Meeker: Online ad spend to reach $50 billion

Mary Meeker is expected to tell today’s Web 2.0 Summit that “online advertising will reach $50 billion and mobile commerce will outpace traditional e-commerce”.

According to Bloomberg Business Week, Meeker is back in demand among investors, who are on the look out for potential investment opportunities.

Nick-named “Mary Meeker 2.0”, the Morgan Stanley analyst is well known for predicting internet growth.  Now, she has moved on to mobile, forecasting that smartphone shipments will exceed those of personal computers in 2012.

“It’s the fastest-ramping technology transformation the world has ever seen,” Meeker said. “I’ve been of the view for years that the mobile internet was the next big thing.”

US consumers spend 28% of their media time online, yet only 13% of ad spending goes to the internet. That creates a $50 billion online advertising global opportunity, according to Meeker’s latest  presentation.

As for mobile e-commerce, Meeker predicts that its spending share will increase due to wireless connections that enable impulse buys and targeted location-based services which encourage spend.