US local online ad spend will reach US$ 2.9 billion, or 13.4 percent of US online advertising spending, eMarketer projects in a newly released report, "Local Online Advertising: Measuring the Market," according to MarketingCharts.

The local online ad market is projected to increase from US$ 2.1 billion in 2006 to US$ 7.8 billion in 2011, according to the report, with a significant burst of growth anticipated in 2008.

eMarketer projects that local online ad spend will grow $1.7 billion next year, reaching $4.6 billion, or 16.0 percent of all online advertising - 2.6 percentage points more than in 2007.

By the end of 2011, the local online ad market in the US is projected to reach $7.8 billion, or 17.7 percent of total US internet advertising spend.

However, the share of local advertising (online and offline) is projected to gradually decrease in the US within the next five years, according to eMarket. Whereas in 2006 national advertising constituted 64.8 percent of total advertising vs. 35.2 percent for local, by the end of 2011 those proportions are projected to be 67.8 percent and 32.2 percent, respectively.

In that period, total US ad spend is projected to grow from $281.6 billion to $320 billion.

Note: "Local online advertising spending" here refers to local and national advertisers' online spending in local markets, specifically for paid search, display, rich media, video, classifieds, sponsorships, referrals and email.