Facebook dominated 23 percent of the display ad impression market during the third quarter of 2010, compared to 9 percent the same time last year, a comScore report has revealed, the Washington Post and Information Week wrote yesterday.

"Just one year ago we were still in the midst of an advertising recession, but several growth drivers have contributed to sustained improvements over the past few quarters," said comScore Senior Vice President Jeff Hackett, CNet informed. "The ability to buy specific audiences is enabling a greater number of display ads to be delivered on target, display formats are improving at a rapid rate, and the quality of creative is getting better every day. As publishers prove the value of online display ad campaigns, digital should continue to carve out a bigger piece of the advertising pie."

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The industry as a whole saw a 22 percent surge since 2009. Last year it underwent a year-on-year increase of 21 percent that was spurred by an 8 percent jump in ad reach and a 12 percent hike in average frequency, Information Week pointed out. On average, a single user in the U.S. was exposed to more than 6,000 display ads throughout the third quarter.

The social networking site accounted for 297 billion ad impressions in a field that totalled to 1.3 trillion ads overall. In the previous quarter, Facebook had 16 percent participation. According to the Post, Facebook ads were cheaper than display ads catering to other outlets like Yahoo. The CPM (cost per thousand impressions) of Facebook ads in the U.S. is nearly US$1, as opposed to Yahoo's $3 price tag.

Yahoo scored second, with 11 percent, or 140 billion hits. Microsoft came in next, with a 5 percent presence that equated to 64 billion impressions. According to Information Week, Fox came in fourth with a 3.8 market share (48 billion hits). Other firms to get a spot on the top 10 list included Google, AOL, Turner etwork, eBay, ESPN and Glam Media.

Network provider AT&T had the first rank in Web-based display ads in the second quarter, tallying to 21.1 billion hits or 1.6 percent of all display ads, CNet divulged. This makes sense, as AT&T is currently the only network iPhones can operate on. Internet trading company Scottrade came in second with 14.9 impressions (1.2 percent) while communications group Verizon scored third with 14.6 billion hits (1.1 percent).

CNet added that during that particular quarter, 109 advertisers (compared to 76 in 2009) provided a minimum of 1 billion display ads. Top advertisers included NetFlix, eBay and Walt Disney, Information Week noted.