Social networks are on course to make a killing from ads, according to a report coming out of eMarketer today. U.S. marketers are expected to spend $350 million in 2006, an increase of 25% over previous estimates. Estimates for 2010 are also up 16 percent to $2.2 billion, with social network ad spending projected to account for 8.5% of the U.S. ad market by 2010. Frankly 2010 is a long, long way off in Internet terms, and it's really one event - the $900 million Google-MySpace ad deal - that's bolstering this whole market.
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MySpace is reaping the biggest rewards, of course, with a projected $525 million in U.S. ad revenue in 2007. Facebook, Bebo, Friendster, Piczo and other top networks will earn a combined $200 million, while networks owned by the portals (Orkut, AIM Pages, Windows Live Spaces) will get $95 million. Niche social networks like Dogster, Sneakerplay and Motortopia will be earning about $45 million.