US online ad spending to reach $50 billion by 2015

A new report from eMarketer predicts that growth for US online ad spending will reach 20.2% this year, remaining in double digits through 2014. By 2015, total online ad spending will approach $50 billion.

Search remains a major source of ad spending, with new spending of $2.38 billion this year, with sustained support for banner ads. Video is still to be the fastest-growing format.

David Hallerman, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “US Online Ad Spending: The Floodgates Are Open”, said, “Video advertising continues to attract new ad spending from brands because it generates greater audience attention than other digital ad formats. Still, its influence far outpaces its ad dollars.”

Local advertising is also moving online as people move away from newspapers and yellow pages. The five largest ad-selling companies, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, AOL and Facebook, will receive 68% of 2011’s total online ad spending.

“Most marketers will spend at least a portion of their ad budgets with those five companies,” said Hallerman. “However, many marketers can often cost-effectively use a blend of ad networks and direct ad buys from smaller sites to improve their campaign’s reach – a process that can sometimes be more complex than buying ads from just a handful of larger sites. Buying from smaller sites can also help marketers maintain their presence within an industry, such as entertainment or B2B.”

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