(Fortune) -- It's been a bad couple of months for the online advertising business. Those banner advertisements that run on the top and sides of websites? Down, by many measures. Search advertising, consisting of sponsored links that turn up on Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) and other sites? Holding up, but not growing like it used to.There's one bright spot in online advertising, though: in-text advertising.
You may have seen these before on sites like Fox News, MSNBC, or iVillage and mistaken them for normal hyperlinks. Certain key words are double-underlined, and users who scroll over those words with their mouse will trigger a box with an ad. If they want to follow the ad, they can click the link.
Vibrant Media, one of the leading companies in the area, says they're seeing twice as many bookings as they did this time last year. The privately held company declined to reveal 2008 revenues but noted that in 2007, revenues increased to $87.8 million, up from $41.6 million the year before.
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