Some 123.6 billion online display ads were served up in December, about 7 percent more than in November, and second only to October's year-high 124.5 billion, reports MediaPost, citing data from Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance. Email sites accounted for 32.1 percent of December display ad impressions (compared with 20.1 percent in Dec. 2004 and 26.7 percent in Nov. 2005); portals and search engines accounted for 12.1 percent (compared with 16.9 percent in Dec. 2004); general community sites accounted for 8.1 percent (compared with 5.3 percent the previous year).

Yahoo Mail accounted for 21.7 percent of impressions - up from November's 16.7 percent, thanks in part to a significant increase in advertising by Vonage Holdings. MSN Hotmail garnered 7.5 percent, down from November's 7.9 percent. MySpace served up 4.8 percent of ads; its year-high share of impressions was 12.4 percent, in September.

Telecom ads constituted 20 percent of online ads served in December, up from 12 percent in Dec. 2004; the financial services category accounted for 20 percent of ad impressions last month, unchanged from the previous year; retail goods and services accounted for 15 percent, down from 19 percent in Dec. 2004.