In 2011, online advertising revenue rose by 16% to $2.593 billion (compared to $2.232 billion the previous year), according to IAB Canada’s latest online ad revenue survey.

Revenue for online channels is projected to be around $2.8 billion by the end of 2012.

Gains last year were seen mostly from search and display advertising, where revenues grew 19% (total of $1.1 billion) and 22% ($840 million), respectively. Video advertising revenue increased the most, reaching $73 million in 2011, which is up by 96% over the previous year. Classifieds/directories was the only advertising format to have seen a decline, falling by 2% in revenue (total of $576 million).

“Online video spend has nearly doubled and yet remains modest when compared to television ad spend,” said Chris Williams, president, IAB Canada in a statement. In the same report, IAB stated that television revenue increased by 5% and radio by 4%, while daily newspaper saw a 6% decrease in advertising dollars.

Revenue for TV totaled $3.552 million, print (magazine, daily and community newspapers) generated $3.734 million and radio amassed $1.575 million in 2011.

Online is further pulling ahead of daily newspapers (a trend also seen in last year’s survey), and its share of total ad revenue in Canada grew from 19.4% in 2010 to 21.7% in 2011, according to IAB. This is on par with the US, and below Europe’s 35.9% online share of total ad revenue.

By product category, the top online spenders were automotive (15%), packaged good (12%), financial (10%) and retail (8%).