Online sports ad spending to skyrocket

Cory Bergman July 24th, 2007

Online ad spending for sports will hit $727 million this year, including paid search. And it will top $1 billion by 2011, predicts a report from eMarketer. The only challenge is sports video, which is riddled with restrictions and relatively unpopular — only 11 percent of users are “likely” to watch sports video online compared to 50 percent with news video. “Video quality does matter with sports,” said Paul Verna, senior analyst, eMarketer. “And there’s also the social aspect of watching a football or baseball game.”