The report, "U.S. Online Advertising Forecast, 2006 to 2011," estimates that search, (surprise, surprise), will dominate online ad spending for the next five years. This year, search spending will reach $6.5 billion, or 41.4 percent of total online ad spending. Display advertising will reach $5.8 billion, or 36.9 percent of total online ad spending, while classified advertising spending will total $3.4 billion, or 21.7 percent.
"Search is incredibly effective," said Emily Riley, advertising analyst at JupiterResearch, in a statement. Riley, who authored the report, said: "As advertisers test search and understand how search can drive sales, they are driving more money into search." She said the money is coming from existing, as well as new, advertisers that are allocating more of their ad budgets to search.
By 2011, search ad spending will reach $11.1 billion, or 42.9 percent of total online ad spending, according to Jup. Display advertising will total $9.2 billion in 2011 (35.5 percent of total online spending), and online classified advertising will reach $5.6 billion (21.6 percent).
"Within display advertising, while static ads will not grow, rich media and video ads will grow rapidly between 2009 and 2011," Riley said. She pegged 2009 as the year when "video will really take off." However, obstacles hampering growth in online video advertising include a lack of standardized video clips or shows available to advertisers, and lack of regularly scheduled online video content.
Jup projects that advertisers will spend $400 million on online video ads this year and $1.3 billion by 2011. They will spend $1.4 billion on rich media ads this year and $3.6 billion in 2011. Total online advertising will grow at a compound annual rate of 11 percent from 2006 to 2011.