There was good news today for the embattled dotcom sector after analysts predicted that online advertising would continue to rise this year.

New York-based eMarketer reckons online ad spending will hit $7.6 billion by the end of the year, up seven per cent on the $7.1 billion spent in 2000.

And it forecasts that despite the economic downturn and blanket of gloom that has smothered the sector, online ad expenditure will continue to grow rising to $10.3 billion in 2002 and hitting $23 billion by 2005.

Said Jonathan Jackson, a senior analyst at eMarketer: "The bloom may be off the Internet advertising rose, but we are now entering a period of reality rather than hype.

"The good news is that marketers are responding to the economic challenges with new techniques and strategies, along with research data to prove their effectiveness," he said.

Which is nice ®