On the face of it, internet advertising has been established for a few years, despite the collapse of the boom. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, £165m was spent on online advertising in the UK in 2001, a rise of 7% on the year before. The 2002 figures are expected to show a similar increase; the picture for 2003 looks even rosier. Estimates vary for this year, but growth is expected to soar into double digit figures, with predictions spread between 20% and 46%.

But the advertising community feels quality is losing out to quantity. Media buyers believe the sector is being held back by a lack of imaginative, high quality ads. As a result, online advertising is dominated by bland banners and buttons. The finger is being pointed at the big creative agencies, which develop expensive TV, billboard and cinema campaigns and leave the internet by the wayside.

"It is holding our industry back. Clients place a huge amount of trust in the feedback they get from creative agencies. I can spend a lot of time working on a great media plan for online advertising but the missing link will still be the creative side, because the client does not think the right creative solution is in place.

"Even the creative agencies themselves would tell you that thay have not engaged it in the way that media buyers have. If you reeled off great creative work in TV and billboards and then asked what their offering was like online, there would be a big difference," says Robert Horler of media buyer Carat Interactive.

He admits that a glut of on line advertising specialists has been a disincentive to large agencies because intense competition for clients pushes down margins - and with them profits.

Charlie Dobres, of online media buyer i-level, thinks net advertising has proved it can work but not enough companies are listening; the appointment of former ITV chief executive Richard Eyre as chairman of the IAB will help put the message across, he says. Double digit growth for 2003 would be impressive, but still a drop in the ocean compared to the spending on TV, radio and outdoor campaigns. The IAB's key target is to double the web's share of UK advertising to 2% by 2004.

"The main issue is making people know about it, and when they know about it, will they believe what they hear? Going from spending 2% of your advertising budget on the internet to spending 5% is sticking your neck out."

Spend
(Estimates for February 2003)

eBay £1.9m

EDiets.com £1.4m

Amazon £1m

MBNA Europe £0.83m

Gaming Club £0.7m

BSkyB £0.57m

BT £0.4m

Egg £0.36m

365 Corporation £0.35m

Trafalgar Betting £0.27m

Data supplied by Thomson Intermedia plc