In the face of an economic downturn, experts predict that there will be an overall reduction in ad spending - but internet advertising will buck the trend and continue to expand rapidly, reports the IDC.

"Internet advertising will continue to grow in 2008 even though we expect marketers to pull back on ad spending across all media because of the current economic troubles," said Karsten Weide, program director, Digital Marketplace: New Media and Entertainment. "Video advertising will make great inroads online, while search advertising will lose some market share."

The IDC forecasts that the internet will go from the fifth to the second most popular advertising medium in just five years - beating newspapers, cable TV and broadcast TV, and second only to direct marketing.

Between 2008 and 2012, it's anticipated web advertising will grow at eight times the rate as advertising at large, while revenue will double to $51.1 billion.

As advertisers shift significant amounts of money from broadcast television and to a lesser extent from cable television, into web-based video ads, video advertising revenue is expected grow sevenfold from $500 million in 2007 to $3.8 billion in 2012, at a compound annual growth rate of 49.4 per cent.

Source: Vnunet.com through European Journalism Centre