Search will bring in $14.4 billion this year in the U.S., representing 46.1% of total online spend, and it will continue to command the lion’s share of spend through 2015, according to a new forecast by eMarketer.

The big picture for U.S. online ad spending is looking bright, as well. EMarketer expects the sector to reach $31.3 billion this year, which represents a dramatic 20% increase over 2010 spending. EMarketer predicts that spending on online ads in the U.S. will rise to nearly $50 billion by 2015.

Though formats like video and display are growing significantly, search is still expected to hold onto its lead as the largest area of online spending though 2015. In 2012, search is expected to command 45.9% of spending, and by 2015 EMarketer expects search to account for 43.5% of spending.

Though it will still be biggest among the categories of online ads, search’s growth rate will slow noticeably in the next few years, according to the report. This year, it will grow at a 12.2% growth rate, and by 2015, it will only grow at a 6.6% rate. While search is expected to continue to grow, EMarketer says online marketers will increasingly be interested in exploiting the Internet’s branding capabilities, fueling growth in banners and video.

Related Topics: Channel: Strategy | Stats: Spend Projections

About The Author: Pamela Parker is a contributing editor for Search Engine Land and Executive Features Editor at Marketing Land. She’s a well-respected authority on digital marketing, having reported and written on the subject since 1998, including a stint as managing editor of ClickZ. She’s also worked to help monetize independent publishers’ sites at Federated Media Publishing. She blogs about media and marketing at The River and about cooking, gardening and parenthood at Free Range. She can be found on Twitter as @pamelaparker. See more articles by Pamela Parker

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