New York - Spending on Internet advertising in the U.S. is projected to double over the next five years, growing from $21.4 billion this year to $42 billion by 2011, according to a report from market research firm eMarketer.

"Mainly because of the credit crunch and related economic fallout, Internet ad spending will not increase as much in 2007 and 2008 as analysts previously expected," the firm said.

The nation's largest advertisers are shifting more of their budgets from traditional media to the Internet, as the top 100 advertisers spent nearly $230 million less on traditional media (TV, radio, newspapers and magazines) in 2006 compared with 2005, while boosting their Internet ad spending by $558 million.

Paid search is expected to maintain its lead and 40% share of the total market through 2011, followed by display ads (20%), classifieds (17%) and rich media ads (13%).

Social networking advertising spending is now also expected to increase from $900 million in 2007 to $2.5 billion in 2011.

Related Links:
http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?1005590

http://tinyurl.com/28dd8d (eMarketer report)