Local online advertising to become big business in next decade

A host of research firms are saying that local ads are the next big thing, with the latest being Jupiter Research saying it will be a $9 billion business by 2012.

Jupiter is certainly not the first to address the market; others have made their predictions as well. While some are not as optimistic, a few even say that the market could potentially grow larger than that.

For example, Borell Associates believes that the rush is here today, saying the market would reach $12.6 billion this year. Of that total, $5 billion would be related to local search. Another firm goes further than that: Veronis Suhler Stevenson says that by 2011 local ads would make up the lion's share of ad revenues, reaching an impressive $19 billion.

But who's right? Some of the differences could be explained by the fact that each firm has different methods and definitions of what an local ad could be considered.