New figures released today from the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), show that there has been a massive boost of 62% in online marketing spending in the first six months of 2005.

The total for January - June was a staggering £490 million, with experts predicting that online advertising spending will hit £1 billion for the whole of this year. To demonstrate the growth, it's now a fact that more was spent on internet advertising in the first six months of this year than in the whole of 2003.

The IAB article lists 4 key drivers for this growth:

• Broadband
• Engaging creativity
• Media consumption
• Online retail boom

The 4th of those listed is the one of most interest to me. In short, more and more people and spending more and more online, which only reinforces the fact for anyone who reading this, that affiliate marketing is a fantastic business to be in at the moment and will continue to be for the forseeable future.