At the 2003 Newspaper Advertising Conference held last week in Amsterdam, Holland, participants learned how internet is now becoming more attractive for advertisers.

Danny Meadows Klue, president of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, spoke about how the "myths" about internet advertising are exploding, opening up new completely horizons.

"Internet has become mainstream and can now offer advertisers reach and frequency measures like traditional media," said MrKlue. "This makes it a more effective advertising medium."

He said the past claim that the internet could not deliver mass audiences is changing now.

"The internet has become a key communication tool today," he said. "We don’t even think about it -- we go to the internet to seek information. A tool like e-mail has become so vital that it is hard to imagine how we’d work with it.

The implication of advertising is that the internet can now provide reach and frequency measures, not only among internet users, but among the entire population. He cited a British Airways advertising campaign in which two internet sites drew 2,1 million visitors in a single day.

"The numbers can now match modest TV campaigns," said MrKlue. "These are numbers that we couldn’t deliver two years ago."

The "myths" about internet advertising -- such as there is no research, that banners don’t build brands -- have all been exploded, he said, and in a very short time. The research, in fact, shows that banners do indeed build awareness. It also shows that people spend far more time on-line than most people imagine.

"The effects on media audiences are only just beginning, and it has already thrown up a radical new assessment of how we consume media," he said.