According to the latest study by eMarketer, the online advertising market showed its resistance to the economic recession. While total media spending dropped, marketer's online ad spending increased by 2 percent to $55.2 billion.
eMarketer forecasts that 2010 will bring a return to double-digit online ad growth -- with global spending set to reach $61.8 billion. Growth will continue at rates of over 10 percent each year through 2014.
"By 2014 eMarketer forecasts that figure will leap to $96.8 billion, growing at an 11.9 percent compound annual rate, despite the slow, uneven and fragile global economic recovery," said eMarketer's Jared Jenks. "These rates will be unmatched by other media."
North America and Western Europe accounted for nearly three-quarters of the world's online ad spending in 2009, but those mature online ad markets will post slower growth rates than developing areas in Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America.
In terms of dollars, however, the more developed regions will still increase by many billions because of their large established bases and still largely untapped potential of the Internet.
The Internet's share of total ad spending worldwide will jump from 11.9 percent in 2009 to 17.2 percent in 2014. Continued high growth in the online space coupled with a 2009 spending decrease of 10.5 percent for total media, followed by a slower recovery, will help online get an ever-larger slice of the ad spending pie.
"The reasons for this growth in share are clear," said Jenks. "Online is more measureable, more effective and where people are increasingly spending their time."
Marketers who have moved quickly to shift their budget allocation from traditional media to online have gained a significant competitive advantage over their laggard peer group. However, it's not clear how long it will take the marketing mainstream to catch-up to the more progressive early-adopters.