According to a recent study funded by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, online advertising contributes $300 billion to the U.S. economy. This equates to 2.1 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This study’s estimate puts the web advertising sector on par with the farm sector. Wow. How things change. As I recall, in the late ’80’s there were less than 20,000 people on the internet.
In the same web posting from Clickz, Web Ads’ Contribution to U.S.: $300B and Gobs Of Jobs, there is some difference of opinion between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and small web publishers who receive revenue from online advertising. FTC is wanting web publishers and advertiser to do more than just put up a privacy statement on their web sites. The FTC is talking about having web sites providing web visitors more immediate feedback when a web site uses consumer behavioral data. An example of this could be where a privacy disclosure pop-up would occur when a web page renders web advertisements based on cookies on the user’s computer. Small web publishers are flocking to Congress to voice their opinion that this type of FTC regulation could hurt their livelihood.
