Australia's most popular sport websites will emerge as key drivers of the online display advertising market in the country next year, as marketers cash in on the wave of interest in major events such as the Commonwealth Games and the World Cup in Germany, writes the Sydney Morning Herald (via MediaBuyerPlanner). In the first six months of 2005, the display advertising category grew 47 percent, to $80 million.

Although that growth was outpaced by the 61.3 percent expansion in the total online market, internet analysts said there's still plenty of room for expansion.

"Sporting sites themselves have attracted a fair number of eyeballs because they lend themselves to timely information about scores and teams and events," said Foad Fadaghi, Australian research director at Frost & Sullivan. "So it certainly makes sense that a lot of the advertising dollar is starting to shift there was as well."