Google becomes online advertising king: study

Google has become the US market leader in online display ads, and now leads all categories for Internet advertising including search and mobile, a market research firm said Wednesday.

The firm eMarketer said Google will top the market for online display advertising with $2.31 billion in revenues—15.4 percent of the market—in 2012.

Google will thus overtake Facebook in display, after the social network dethroned longtime leader Yahoo! last year, eMarketer said.

The milestone means Google now holds more share than any other company in each of the US search, display and mobile advertising markets.

Google will see a 38 percent jump in online display ad revenue this year, the report said.

Facebook, the consultancy said, will earn $2.16 billion in US display ad revenues this year, up 24.4 percent from billion last year. Facebook's share will be 14.4 percent.

Yahoo! will see nearly flat revenues for display ads, which will mean its market share will fall to 9.3 percent this year from 11 percent last year and 14 percent in 2010.

The eMarketer estimate said the overall US display ad market will grow 21.5 percent to $14.98 billion from $12.33 billion in 2011, aided by mobile growth; and increased spending growth on digital video advertising, especially on Google-owned YouTube.

(c) 2012 AFP