Top 20 Retailers Up Online Ad Spending 152% First Half of ‘06

A MarketingVOX story this week reported the 20 retailers included in Ad Age’s Top 200 Brands Spending Report boosted their online advertising budgets 152 percent during the first half of 2006. According to the Ad Age story, total Internet spending for all 200 top brands was up nearly 26 percent over last year’s total.

Wal-Mart increased online ad spending by over 400 percent to $32.5 million, and rival Target increased their online ad budget by nearly 350 percent to $28.4 million.

Ad Age also reported big online spending increases for other categories during the first half of 2006:

Insurance: up 119.3 percent
Automotive: up 49.7 percent
Financial services: up 49.4 percent
Food: up 43.9 percent