IAB: Online Ad Business Contributes $300 Billion To Economy (So Don’t Mess With It)

imageThe Interactive Advertising Bureau has been ramping up its lobbying effort to get Congress and regulators to let the ad industry police itself with behavioral targeting. Now it’s trying pound home its message with some numbers. The IAB claims in a new study that it commissioned that online spending in the U.S. contributes $300 billion in “economic activity,” while directly employing 1.2 million. The push comes as online ad spending fell in the first quarter, the first drop in several years.

The not-so-subtle message the IAB is bringing to Washington, D.C., this week is that any change in the current self-policing regime could impact Congressional constituents at a time of severe economic weakness. In particular, the IAB notes that internet-related employment exists in every one of the 435 U.S. Congressional Districts, though only a few districts have more than 6,000 web-related employees.

More on whether the lobbying effort is likely to work, after the jump

Despite the stepped-up lobbying effort, the idea of rules around targeting has been gaining momentum. Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.), the chairman of the House Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet, recently drafted a bill that would require companies that gather personal data online to tell users what information they

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