Online advertising revenue for local TV websites was an estimated $283 million in 2005, twice as much as in 2004 - and is expected to again increase, by 39 percent, in 2006 - according to a new Television Bureau of Advertising survey conducted by Borrell Associates, writes MediaWeek. Considering their strength in delivering online video content, local TV station websites are poised to make serious gains, according to the report titled "Benchmarking the Local Website Marketplace."

The most popular ad categories for local TV websites are automotive and healthcare, followed by real estate and financial services.

However, TV stations' website revenue accounted for only 6 percent (still, up from 2004's 4 percent) of the total $3.9 billion spent on local web advertising in 2005, including newspaper, directories and radio web advertising. Newspaper websites accounted for 43.2 percent of the local internet advertising market.

According to the report, more than 100 stations, including many UPN, WB and Fox affiliates, began generating revenue from their sites for the first time in 2005.

Interestingly, stations in smaller markets on average garnered three times more ad revenue share than the larger stations' sites, according to the survey.