New York—Internet advertising revenue reached $17.0 billion in the first half, up 14.1% over the same period last year, according to the IAB's “Internet Advertising Revenue Report” released Thursday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

In the second quarter, Internet ad revenue hit $8.7 billion, up 12.9% over the year-earlier period.

The growth reflects the “innovation and ingenuity that keeps our industry growing, despite our stagnant economy and difficult times for the world economy,” said Sherrill Mane, senior VP-research, analytics and measurement at the IAB, during a webcast Thursday morning.

“One of the striking findings in our revenue report is the amazing growth of mobile, which nearly doubled since the first half of 2011,” she said.

Mobile advertising revenue totaled $1.2 billion in the first half, up 95% over the same period last year.

Search revenue totaled $8.1 billion, up 19.0%; display advertising reached $5.6 billion, up 4.0%; and digital video ad revenue rose 10.0% to $1.0 billion.