The IAB report says that online ad spend was £197m or 1.4 per cent last year; compared to cinema, which was £180m or 1.2 per cent and radio advertising which was around 4 per cent of the total ad spend.

A netimperative report quoted IAB's Danny Meadows-Klue as saying that net advertising was on target to reach 2 per cent by autumn 2004.

The report also says that IAB and PwC have also broken down the research by category, after announcing the top-line figures last month, revealing that the market has now truly moved away from the time when it was totally reliant on dotcoms, telecoms and IT firms.

Financial services is now clearly the largest category, with 26 per cent of the total, with FMCG and automotive also growing fast. The research has also revealed a seasonality pattern for online ad spend, which tends to experience softer Q3s, followed by consistent uplifts in Q4.

Separately, the IAB has also announced a new Creative Showcase Awards, co-sponsored by The Guardian, which is designed to give Interactive Media Agencies the chance to show off their creative work.

The IAB hopes the new monthly web-based Creative Showcase awards will redress the balance and share some of the best creative work with a wider audience. Any agency or in-house team can enter and ten senior industry creatives will judge the work. There is no prize but winners get to have their work published in the Media Guardian.