MUMBAI: This is for those doomsayers who have been predicting the demise of the internet advertising market. Look into your crystal-balls once again, says the New York-based ad market researcher CMR, which is a unit of Taylor Nelson Sofres. CMR predicts that the beleagured Internet advertising market in the US will grow 8.8 per cent in 2002, the sharpest rise amongst all media, which is expected to increase 1.5 per cent from $94.6 billion to $96.1 billion in the same period. CMR says that Internet advertising will see the strongest return of all media.

CMR points out that newspaper advertising, which is next in queue as the fastest growing segment, is expected to increase by only 3.1 percent over 2001. Network and spot television ads will rise by just 2-2.5 percent, while magazines will grow by a measley 0.6 percent.

CMR believes that the worst is over for mass media advertising, which declined 9.4 per cent in the past year from $104.5 billion in 2000. A majority of this decline was accounted for by the 14.4 per cent drop in advertising in the fourth quarter of 2001.