Spending on online advertising will climb to around $19.96 billion this year--marking a 26 percent increase from last year's $15.83 billion, according to new research by PQ Media.
National display and search ads will account for the largest single proportion of online ad dollars--$13.57 billion, up 24 percent from last year's $10.92 billion, according to the report. Local
advertising--including display and search ads at newspaper sites and local portals--also will claim a significant chunk of ad dollars--$5.28 billion, up 32 percent from last year's $4 billion.
PQ Media also predicts that Internet Yellow Pages spending will increase to $1.17 this year--up 21 percent from last year's $966 million. Spending for online video ads will reach a predicted $382
million, marking a 70 percent increase from last year's $225 million. The report reiterated a previously issued prediction that spending in social media--blogs, podcasts and RSS--will reach nearly $50 million this year,
up from $20 million last year.
The PQ Media report, "Alternative Advertising & Marketing Outlook 2006," was compiled based on interviews with dozens of industry sources, including publishing
executives, media buyers and brand marketers, said Leo Kivijarv, PQ Media head of research.
The company's figures are slightly more bullish than those of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, which
reported earlier this year that 2005 online ad revenues totaled $12.5
billion--approximately $3 billion less than PQ Media's estimate.
Looking beyond the Internet, PQ Media found that spending in all "alternative" media--including video game ads, mobile
marketing, and cinema advertising, among others--had soared to $53.37 billion in the first six months of this year, marking a 16 percent increase from the first six months of 2005. For the entire
year, spending in alternative media is predicted to reach $115.77 billion--around 19 percent more than the 2005 spend.