The Interactive Advertising Bureau in Australia has just published the latest quarterly report on Internet advertising spend which shows further growth in the market, despite the impending economic slowdown. The third quarter of 2008 recorded the highest revenues yet, at $450m. Advertisers spent over $100m more in Q3 2008 than they did in the same period in 2007, which was a year-on-year growth of almost 30%.

This new IAB report has again been compiled by PriceWaterhouseCoopers, based on information from advertisers and leading Internet properties in Australia, although Google continues to withhold their data on search advertising. Despite that, the estimates for the quarter show that the Search & Directories category continues to lead market growth, with a 33% year-on-year growth and a 13% growth on the previous quarter in 2008, accounting for $212m of the total Q3 revenue. General Display grew 29% year-on-year and 10% on the previous quarter, reaching $125.5m for the quarter, whilst the Classifieds category grew by 25% year-on-year and 2% from Q2 to total $113.75m.