Leading industry forecaster Robert Coen on Monday estimated that U.S. Internet ad spending by national advertisers will reach $10.7 billion next year, marking a 10% increase from this year's estimated
$9.3 billion. Coen, senior vice president and director of forecasting for Universal McCann, routinely excludes search from his calculations of online ad dollars. The Interactive Advertising Bureau
pegs search as representing about 41% of online ad revenues. Far more bullish was a separate forecast
issued Monday by Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia unit that predicts a 28.2% increase in online ad
spending next year. Coen, and a variety of Wall Street analysts have issued revised outlooks for 2007 generally calling for moderate single-digit growth for advertising overall, but a continuing boom
for online and digital media.
