The latest quarterly Internet advertising figures compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Internet Advertising Bureau show that annual growth rates have slowed, as recently predicted, with the third quarter of the year seeing a record spend of $347 million, up 32% on the same period last year.

The past 3 years have seen annual growth rates of around 60%, but as the Sydney Morning Herald's report on the latest published figures rightly observes, the annual growth rates will inevitably slow down as the base value of the market increases, so that the actual increase in the dollar value of the market spend remains strong.

Search advertising continues to be the fastest-growing area in the latest figures, with growth of 53% on the same quarter in 2006. This is more than double the rate of display advertising - which grew by 24% in the same period - and online classified ads which grew by 13% over the previous year.