Video and local search ´will drive online advertising´

Internet advertising spending is expected to grow by around 85 per cent by 2009, driven by online video and local search.

A new report from ZenithOptimedia suggested that internet ad spending is expected to rise from $25.9 billion in 2006 to $48.1 billion in 2009.

The forecasts indicate that online advertising will enjoy year-on-year growth of 29.9 per cent for 2007, 23.5 per cent in 2008, and 15.6 per cent in 2009.

In particular, the report identifies online video and local search as two key drivers of internet growth. It is these two sectors which will be responsible for taking ad spending away from traditional platforms.

Jonathan Barnard, head of publications at Zenith Optimedia, is quoted by ClickZ.com as saying: "At this stage nobody really knows what the successful model of the future will be. There is a lot of experimenting.

"It´s the fact that it´s opening up the internet to other types of advertisers that only have a small market in which they sell," he added.

"A national or international ad on a large search engine wouldn´t have been cost effective, but now they´re able to localise their results, and are able to draw in small advertisers."