In 2006, Yahoo's share of online branding spend will remain around 17 percent, and it will continue to face stiff competition from Google in paid search - and from MySpace in the social-networking arena, writes MediaPost, citing a Merrill Lynch report issued Thursday. Merrill Lynch predicts that U.S. online ad revenue for all formats will increase at a 22 percent compound annual growth rate, reaching nearly $23 billion in 2008.

Merrill also forecast that Yahoo's net revenue will reach $4.74 billion this year, a growth of 28 percent from last year's $3.7 billion, which in turn was the result of a 42 percent year-over-year growth rate.

"The key for future advertising share growth [for Yahoo] will be solidifying the company's position in the rapidly growing paid search market," according to the report.