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An advertising industry group says revenue from Internet advertising in the U.S. hit $8.4 billion in the first three months of the year. That's the highest for the first quarter, up 15 percent from $7.3 billion in the same period last year.

We've heard rumblings that Facebook was testing a system called Highlight that would allow people to pay to promote a post, and now obnoxiously enough, it's starting to show up.

Facebook's reach is wide but not deep. Few users surveyed in an Associated Press-CNBC poll say they click on the site's ads or buy the virtual goods that make money for it.

This is a novel way to generate revenue from non-intrusive advertising, and could offer much more value to brand advertisers than just mobile display ads slapped in the faces of users.

Shares of online marketing services provider ValueClick are taking a beating after hours Wednesday following the company's Q1 financial report. ValueClick posted revenue of $152.9 million, up 31% from a year ago, but below the Street consensus at $157.8 million. Guidance had been for $155 million to $160 million.

Google, of Mountain View, Calif., issued a fourth-quarter report in January that largely fell flat on Wall Street, as profit came in well below expectations. During a subsequent conference call, executives were peppered with questions about an 8% decline in prices paid by advertisers during the period every time a user clicked on their ads.

Almost lost in Zynga’s disappointing fourth-quarter earnings report was one bright spot: advertising. Ad revenues jumped 230%, to $27 million in the fourth quarter–almost four times the social gaming company’s 59% rise in overall revenues. Chalk it up in part to a new, more interactive kind of ad from “engagement marketing” firm SocialVibe.

Facebook's Ticker, the fast-scrolling tote board of pretty much everything your friends are doing, is ready to start selling you stuff.

Google’s core business, search advertising, seems so far to have weathered the economic doldrums that have hurt other sites and publications relying on ads.

David Zaslav, CEO of Discovery Communications, called his company's licensing pact with Netflix an 'economic win' and also said there's a disconnect between the strong advertising market and the overall economic malaise.