Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem – 2012

Between 2007 and 2011, a period when U.S. civilian employment was essentially flat, the number of jobs that rely on the U.S. ad-supported internet doubled to 5.1 million, according to “Economic Value of the Advertising-Supported Internet Ecosystem,” a study commissioned by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). The ad-supported digital industry directly employs 2 million Americans, and indirectly employs a further 3.1 million in other sectors. Calculating against those figures, the interactive marketing industry contributed $530 billion to the U.S. economy last year, also close to double 2007 figures that placed it at $300 billion. These are the key findings that analyze the economic importance, as well as the social benefits, of the Internet.

The study, commissioned by . . .