• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, November 9, 2011

When it comes to ad spending, ad exchanges, social media and mobile are among the fastest-growing categories -- and they will continue their upward trajectory next year and beyond, according to the annual Outlook report released by Razorfish Wednesday.

The Publicis-owned agency said client advertising dollars directed to each of those areas ramped up significantly last year, with its overall billings up 20% in 2010 and expected to increase 25% this year. Emerging segments still represents a small portion of paid media budgets -- exchanges account for less than 10%, and social and mobile 4% apiece last year.

Search and display still command the lion’s share of spending, at 36% and 43%, respectively.

That said, Razorfish expects the newer interactive categories will garner a growing share of marketing dollars as companies increasingly look for ways to connect with consumers in real-time and across platforms, based on the trove of data about their online interactions.

The rise of programmatic audience-buying via exchanges as a mainstream way to buy and sell digital media has been one of the key industry developments since last year. Razorfish expects client spending will grow again 60% this year. “That’s a trend we’ve expected, but it just speaks to the maturation of that business,” said Jeff Lanctot, chief media officer at Razorfish.

As a measure of increased spending in social media, the report noted that Facebook has vaulted from being a top 200 publisher for Razorfish in 2008 to one of its top five in 2011. “It really is pretty shocking growth, particularly since Facebook is oft-criticized as having not quite nailed its ad model,” said Lanctot, who added the social networking giant attracts the vast majority of social media advertising spend by clients.

The paid advertising on Facebook and other social properties, of course, doesn’t include investment in owned or earned media, such as brand pages or social applications. Razorfish expects growing investment in owned and earned media on social properties will be more tightly coordinated with paid efforts.

In the mobile realm, the agency said mobile display and search combined now account for almost 10% of ad spending, indicating that advertising is starting to catch up with increased mobile content use. But the agency also emphasizes that marketers should not think so much about mobile as a stand-alone platform but as part of “media multitasking” across TV, tablet and phone screens. 

“This is bigger than simply having a mobile- or tablet-optimized Web site. It means a cohesive communications strategy where the spots and the experience on mobile devices work together and build toward a greater whole,” states the Outlook report.

Research by Razorfish and Yahoo included in the report, for instance, found tha tnearly 80% of survey participants are busy on their mobile devices while watching TV at home. Within that group, 15% will stay on their device for the entirety of a show. Some 38% actively search for more information about content or ads they see on TV.

in addition to always-on phones, wider adoption of tablets and increases in mobile transactions, other factors are contributing to the mobile’s growing importance to marketers. The ability of tablets to bring together touch interactivity with video and other media in a portable format, for instance, will lead to ad opportunities that differ from either PCs or phones, according to Razorfish.