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Online advertising in Europe has been seen as minimal. A new report suggests that the online ad market in Europe will see significant growth over the next three years.

"eMarketer estimates online ad spending will hit $7.5 billion in Western Europe this year, up 25% from $6.0 billion in 2006,"says Lisa Phillips, eMarketer senior analyst and the author of the new Europe Online Advertising: Spend, Trend and Audience report. "It is literally gobbling up ad dollars from other media."

The report says that the Internet will account for 7.3 percent of all European ad spending. In 2010 it will increase to 9.4 percent of total ad spending which means less ad money for newspapers (28.1%) and magazines (15.8%). The TV share of the ad market will increase to account for 34.4 percent in 2010.

Just over half of the growth in online ad spending in Europe has seen a decline in spending on other media, according to the "Marketers Internet Ad Barometer" report, published by the European Interactive Advertising Association (EIAA).

"Europe as a region is far from homogeneous, and advertising strategies must employ both national and pan-European elements," says Ms. Phillips. "The vast majority of online ad budgets are allocated by country, but regional and pan-European teams of marketers have strong influence."

In a survey by the EIAA marketers representing European and global brands expect online spending to increase 67 percent between 2006 and 2008.

The UK is the most expensive country in the world for online advertisers. eMarketer projects that advertisers will spend $217 per Internet user in the UK in 2010. In France they will spend $136 per user and Italy only $10 per user.

The online ad spending in the US is fairly reasonable when compared to the UK. Online advertisers spent $86 per American user in 2006, and they estimate that in 2010 they will spend $130 per user.

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Mike is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.