Search is expected to represent more than one-third of all online ad spending in 2004, according to eMarketer’s Search Engine Marketing report. The growth in search is phenomenal – it comprised a measly 1.3 percent of total online ad spending in 2000, 15.4 percent in 2002, and 30 percent last year, eMarketer says. The data aggregator also projects that advertising via paid search could exceed $2.5 billion this year. US Bancorp Piper Jaffray estimates search could become a $7 billion market globally by 2007.

(MediaPost)