NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- AdZone Research Inc. (OTCBB:ADZR), a pioneering Internet surveillance technology solutions provider, and an advertising research firm that tracks advertising on some 2,700 Web sites worldwide representing more than 95% of all Internet advertising revenue, today said in its latest Internet Advertising Report that in the month of July, the last month for which actual figures are available, advertising spending on the Internet grew for the third straight month.
The value of Internet advertising in July was $684.2 million, up 2.2% from June, and 6.1% more than in the month of May. "In analyzing these trends," said AdZone's Chief Operating Officer, John A. Cardona, "technology again emerged as the top advertising category, with more than $195 million in online spending." Cardona said companies such as Dell Computer, Hewlett Packard and IBM are consistently among the top advertisers online.
"Finance, with online spending of slightly more than $104 million, was the second most active sector," Cardona continued. "This group was led by such discount brokers as Ameritrade, e-Trade and Scottrade. Low commissions and flat trading volumes have prompted fierce competition in this marketplace," Cardona observed.
The COO also said that the nationwide carb-cutting dieting trend has resulted in equally healthy online spending boosts in the health category, with the Atkins and South Beach Diets among the leaders. "While online ad spending is lower than this year's high in January 2004 of $846.4 million, it has remained steady at a very strong $650 million per month," Cardona noted. "With healthy revenues from big online advertising sellers like Yahoo, Lycos and eBay, we expect to see continued growth in online spending."
In addition to the technology and finance sectors, the other top online ad sectors for July, in descending order, were retail ($84.2 million), business ($84 million), automotive ($57 million), health ($31.3 million), sports and leisure ($29.8 million), entertainment ($27.9 million), travel ($19.8 million) and home merchandise ($18.1 million). As the economy strengthens, the online marketplace will continue to be a dominant force in the advertising arena," the COO concluded.
About AdZone Research:
AdZone Research specializes in automated retrieval, classification, analysis and delivery of worldwide Internet data for global defense as well as media metrics. Through surveillance of more than one half million Web sites worldwide, AdZone provides tracking and monitoring of targeted information on the Internet, with an expanded focus on global Internet analysis of security-related data transmissions. See: www.adzoneresearch.com .
Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements (as such term is defined in the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995). Because such statements include risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.