The software industry witnessed the largest growth in internet advertising between December and January, new figures report.

According to a study by Nielsen Net Ratings, the sector has seen advertising growth of around 142 per cent, reports ClickZ News.

Meanwhile, the public services and business-to-business industries saw growth of 86 and 51 per cent respectively.

However, hardware and electronics saw the largest decrease between December and January with internet advertising in the sector down by 37 per cent.

Auction website eBay was also reported witnessing growth in online marketing.

The Nielsen Net Ratings study claimed the firm had more page impressions than any other company accounting for some 4,630 million sponsored link impressions during January, an increase of about 19.5 per cent from December.

Google came second in the survey, reporting 1,479 million page impressions in January, a rise of over 460 per cent from the previous month.

According to research by Thomson Intermedia, an increasing amount of British firms utilised online marketing during 2006, spending about £235 million, a rise of 19 per cent from 2005, reports Reuters.