U.S. online display advertising spend in 2007 will increase 13.4 percent over 2006 levels - much more than the 2.6 percent ad spend growth forecast for all media, according to TNS Media Intelligence, writes ClickZ.

That projected growth rate for online would be less than the 17.9 percent registered in 2006. Other firms forecast combined online display and search ad spend increases of more than 28 percent. Internet display ad spend will constitute 7.2 percent of all 2007 ad spend, according to TNS, up from 6.5 percent in 2006.

"Media fragmentation is continuing to expand the supply of ad inventory…holding down media price inflation," Steven Fredericks, president-CEO of TNS is quoted by AdAge as saying. "At the same time we're seeing improved effectiveness…allowing large spenders to trim their spending by shifting expenditures into new media, which costs less."

"The move to digital platforms is completely turning the industry upside down," Fredericks said. "Everybody's trying to cope with it. And some of the conservativeness in (overall) ad spending has to do with some confusion in how to spend the money."