Internet ads are as old of the internet itself, but broadcast television always remained the place advertisers spent most of their money — despite the millions and millions spending hours every day online. However, that balance has been upset for the first time: according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), internet ad revenues for 2013 hit $42.8 billion, surpassing broadcast TV ad revenues of $40.1 billion.
While ubiquitous search ads still makes up the largest piece of that spending, advertisers are increasingly targeting your smartphone. The IAB says that mobile ads revenue experienced triple-digit growth for the third year in a row — in 2013, it was up 110 percent compared to 2012, reaching just over $7 billion in revenue. That's only 17 percent of total internet ad spending, but in 2012 mobile ads only accounted for nine percent of the internet ad landscape — and given consumer reliance on their smartphones, that number is likely to continue growing in the years to come.