Online, mobile advertising see 14 percent growth in 2011, says Borrell Associates

Overall ad spending next year is expected to see moderate growth, but online and mobile advertising should see a sizable increase, according to the latest forecast from Borrell Associates.

The projection, part of the company’s “2011 Online Ad Spend Forecast by DMA,” predicts advertisers will increase spending by less than 5 percent next year compared to 2010, boosting total U.S. ad spending to $238.6 billion.

Online ad spending, however, is expected to be the real standout, turning in growth of 14 percent and increasing from $45.6 billion this year to $51.9 billion in 2011. Local online ads are expected to register growth of nearly 18 percent, reaching $16.1 billion next year. Overall local ads, targeted online ads and ads associated with social media will see the fastest growth, the company said.

Borrell Associates forecasts targeted display ads, such as banner advertising, will grow nearly 60 percent in 2011 to $10.9 billion for national and local online advertising combined.

The report predicts advertisers local to the markets where their ads run will double their targeted displays advertising next year, spending more than $2.3 billion. However, the popularity of run-of-site display ads will decline, accounting for a 14 percent decline for the 2010 level.

Another high growth area is streaming video ads. The company forecasts streaming video ads to grow more than 60 percent to $5.6 billion in 2011. Driven in large part by affordable, do-it-yourself tools to create streaming video ads, this category will see two out of every five ad dollars spent on streaming video coming from local advertisers, Borrell Associates said.

The report also forecasts growth in mobile marketing, with 20 percent of every dollar spent on online advertising being devoted to mobile.

Phil Kurz

Phil Kurz is a contributing editor to TV Tech. He has written about TV and video technology for more than 30 years and served as editor of three leading industry magazines. He earned a Bachelor of Journalism and a Master’s Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism.