Local Search spending outlook

Filed in Local Search, Statistics by Matt McGee on September 8, 2006

Need to get this one posted not only for reader edification, but also for the sake of future referencing. 🙂

MediaPost reported this week on a Borrell Associates study that forecasts continued growth in local online advertising. The study predicts spending in 2007 to be up 32% to $7.7 billion. Some specifics:

Paid local search is expected to remain the fastest-growing ad category, nearly doubling to $1.8 billion and accounting for almost a quarter of local online ad spending. Local e-mail will climb by 54 percent to $233 million, while local banners and listings will increase 18.4 percent to $5.6 billion.

The MediaPost article says the real estate and automotive sectors are fueling the growth (sorry, bad pun). And that newspaper web sites are among the biggest benefactors.

[tags]local search, small business, advertising, online marketing, real estate, auto industry[/tags]