Internet advertising continues to accelerate, while other media platforms are suffering from the web's growth, according to new research by TNS Media Intelligence.
Ad spending grew 17.3 per cent to $9.8 billion in 2006, but this does not include paid search adverts, which would bring the total growth of the market to almost double this figure.
This outpaced the total advertising spending of 4.1 per cent to $149.6 billion as advertisers found that they were making greater than average return on investment through the virtue of targeted advertising on the web.
Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research at TNS, told Mediaweek: "The internet is growing on the backs of small and midsize advertisers. It's emerging as a very targeted, focused medium."
"The top 50 blue chip advertisers still lag the overall market in terms of the share of their budgets that are being allocated to the internet."
He added: "Advertisers have been able to improve the efficiency of their advertising, so going forward they don't need to spend as much money to achieve the desired impact."
