Online Video Ads May Be Worth $7 Billion By 2012

Ask the average person about ads, and they’ll think of television commercials.  Mention computers, and they’ll move on to text ads.  But a new report from Forrester Research suggests that video ads deserve attention, too, because as much as $7.1 billion might be spent on them by 2012.

This isn’t exactly a conservative prediction – Liz Gannes did the math and writes, “That’s after a 72 percent compound annual growth rate for the next five years, building on total spending of $471 million this year.”  And 72 percent annual growth is the sort of thing that only Google, the industry’s financial rock star, is usually able to achieve.

Furthermore, Gannes notes, “Screen Digest, which hasn’t been particularly enthusiastic about video revenues in general, thinks user-generated video will be worth $956 million in 2011.  iSuppli is putting its money on professionally produced video, predicting revenues will hit $5.9 billion in 2011.”

Still, Forrester Research isn’t some sort of reckless cheerleader; it’s been around since 1983, and its video ad estimate stemmed from a survey of over 300 marketing professionals.

Also, with announcements coming in on a weekly (or even daily) basis from companies like Joost, Blinkx, and Veoh, it’s even less difficult to believe Forrester’s numbers.