eMarketer: Search, display will continue to lead

Marketers can look for even more ad dollars to shift online over the next four years, but where will the dollars be spent? According to a recent eMarketer report the online ad spend, now expected to reach $42 billion by 2011, will continue to draw heavily on paid search and display ads.

by Kristina Knight

The new report actually has online ad spending decreasing by nearly $2 billion from a previous report. This downturn is being blamed on the current downturn in the US economy.

Despite the economic downturn, analysts are excited about how budgets are changing overall. According to the report, more dollars will be spent in online arenas over the next four years as advertisers large and small decrease their traditional advertising budgets and increase their online spending.

Currently the biggest online ad platform, analysts predict that paid search will continue to draw in the most advertising dollars. Search, expected to account for 40.3% of online budgets in 2007, will likely account for 39.5% of budgets in 20ll. Display ads will be the next highest spending bracket with analysts expecting about 20% of online budgets to be spent. Next come classified ads (17%) and email advertising, which will continue to account for about 1.5% of online budgets.

From there, there are a few changes. Rich media, which includes video advertising is expected to account for roughly 13% of the online spend. Social network advertising, not currently accounted for in a separate category, is expected to grow from $900 million this year to more than $2.5 billion in 2011. Email and lead generation will continue to be strong draws for online marketers, too.