US spending on the Internet advertising plunged by 5.3 per cent to $10.9 billion for the period of first six months of 2009, down from $11.5 billion for the same period last year.

As per a study by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, spending on the Internet advertising fell in the first half of the year due to the dire economic conditions.

Nearly half of the money was spent on search advertising, boosting revenues of Google Inc, which controls about two-third of the search market.

Spending on display-related ads stood at about $3.8 billion in the first half of 2009, down by 1.1 per cent as compared with the first half of previous year.

However, digital video kept on growing, with a 38 per cent rise from the first six-month period of 2008.

Randall Rothenberg, CEO of Interactive Advertising Bureau, said, "We are in one of the most difficult economic slumps in decades."