The internet will grow six times faster than traditional media between 2006 and 2009 and increase its share of the ad market from 6.1 percent to 9.4 percent, according to Publicis Groupe’s ZenithOptimedia. In an interview, Bruce Goerlich, EVP-Strategic Resources for ZenithOptimedia, added that the agency sees 29 percent gains for 2007 over 2006, and a 19 percent increase for 2008.

Despite the narrowing of those increases, he said the agency is still “aggressively bullish” when it comes to internet ad spending. Goerlich: “To be sure, there’s a certain incremental slowing of growth for online ads, but you have to look at it in terms of the entire ad market. The reality is that advertising is growing an average of 5 percent a year. By that vantage point, we don’t believe online ad spending has peaked.”

While those 2007 and 2008 predictions are in line with its previous March projections, ZenithOptimedia also upgraded its worldwide internet ad spending forecast once again in light of what it said was strong growth in online video ads and local search. ZenithOptimedia now expects the internet to attract 8.6 percent of global ad spending in 2008 and 9.4 percent in 2009. Just three months ago, the media agency predicted online ads would attract 8.6 percent in 2009. Overall, online ad spend is projected to grow by 82 percent between 2006 and 2009, while the rest of the ad market grows by 13 percent.