Traditional media advertising lookout. Online advertising growth is far outpacing other channels.

According to PricewaterhouseCoopers, global internet advertising will grow 16 percent annually over the next five years, almost doubling to US$44 billion by 2009. The third quarter of 2005 set a quarterly record as online advertising spending was up 34 percent.

“The third quarter figures are the most impressive we’ve seen yet,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers’ David Silverman. “Clearly advertisers are realising the benefits of shifting more of their total advertising budgets online.”

In a February 2005 study, Forrester Research found that many marketers are planning to increase spending in online advertising by decreasing spending in other channels. This comes as a result of consumers spending a larger percentage on their media time online and online publishers providing more sophisticated tools for tracking online ads.

It looks like the shift is inevitable. “There are major changes taking place and we don’t understand the speed and scale at which they’re taking place,” said Martin Sorrell, head of one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing companies, WPP.

Even Microsoft’s Chairman Bill Gates is pushing online advertising. At an advertising conference late last month he was quoted as saying: “The future of advertising is on the internet.” According to Gates, traditional media such as television, newspapers and magazines will all be delivered via the internet within the next 10 years.

This may or may not come as a surprise, but it’s finally time to realise that the internet is seriously changing the way we all work, play and thus advertise.