WHILE the economic downturn has hit advertising, the internet has been busy building market shares. Global ad spending is estimated to fall by over 10% this year, according to ZenithOptimedia, a media firm. The internet will account for 12.3% of all advertising spending in 2009, up from 10.1% last year, and double what it was in 2005. Online ad spending in Denmark, a country with near universal broadband penetration, overtook TV spending in 2008, and is forecast to be almost a third of the ad market by 2012. In America, television advertising still dominates, though advertisers are moving from newspapers to the internet.

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