Some 138.2 billion display ad impressions were served up in January - a 12 percent increase from December's 123.6 billion, according to new data from Nielsen/NetRatings AdRelevance, writes MediaPost. The January numbers surpassed 2005's year-high 124.5 billion, which came in October. The bulk of impressions, 35.1 percent, were on email sites - mostly Yahoo (22.3 percent) and MSN (9.6 percent).

General community sites accounted for 13.1 percent (more than double from a year ago); portals and search engines took 11.8 percent of impressions (down from 16.5 percent last year). MySpace accounted for 10.1 percent of all impressions in January, up from December's 4.8 percent and nearer its 2005 year-high 12.4 percent, which came in September.

Financial services advertisers accounted for the most impressions in January: 22 percent, up slightly from 21 percent in January 2005 and 20 percent in December. Telecoms accounted for 19 percent, compared with 8 percent last year. Retail goods and services marketers accounted for 16 percent, compared with 15 percent last year.