TV passing newspaper as #1 ad medium

A study says that this year broadcast TV will, for the first time ever, collect more advertising revenue than newspapers. TV's turn as king of the hill will be short, however, since Internet ad revenue will soon exceed TV.

According to VSS, a media private-equity firm, Internet advertising will boast a nearly 19% compound annual growth rate from 2007-12, compared with just over 2.5% growth for broadcast TV and a 2.8% decline for newspapers.

Last year, newspapers took in $51.5 billion in advertising revenue compared with $48 billion for broadcast TV. But this year, with a boost from the presidential race and the Olympics, TV will spike to $51 billion while newspapers sink to slightly less than $47 billion.

Ahem ... none of those figures come close to what is being spent in-store (though I admit nobody has hard numbers, I have no doubt it is more than $50 billion).