Online advertising growth remained stagnant in the first quarter of the year, with expenditures at A$513 million - the same as the figure from the last quarter in 2009, The Australian reported yesterday, citing figures from the Internet Advertising Bureau.

Comparing ad spend on a year-on-year basis; however, the sector was up by 17 percent, from $440 million in the first quarter of last year, according to the IAB. Compared to the previous quarter, general display advertising was down 11 percent, search was up 2 percent and classifieds were up by 9 percent.

"Retail and so-called fast-moving consumer goods advertisers and government continue to grow their share of the online general display market, foreshadowing significant shifts to online away from other media," said Paul Fisher, IAB CEO, according to the Australian.

Meanwhile, mobile advertising spending is growing, but is still a very small part of overall online spending. In the United States, for example, mobile ad spending reached US$416 million, while overall online advertising was $22.4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported.

However, just because mobile ad spending is still a very small piece of the pie doesn't mean that mobile isn't important, Kevin Ryan, the former CEO of DoubleClick, said at an Internet, media and telecom conference, according to the WSJ.

"There's no inherent reason why advertising has to drive everything," he said, citing other revenue models, such as subscriptions, as other possibilities for ways to monetize the important growing platform.