Paying attention to Yahoo!’s real-time search update? Here’s some relevant eMarketer data:

Yahoo!’s share of the $12.37 billion US search advertising market fell to 10.4% in 2010, down from 13.7% in 2009, according to eMarketer. This year, Yahoo!’s share of overall US search ad revenues is expected to fall further to 8.1%.

Much of the decline in Yahoo!’s search business is a result of Bing’s rise. eMarketer estimates Microsoft’s share of overall US search ad revenues increased to 10.2% last year — just shy of Yahoo!’s.

You can view more eMarketer data and analysis about search advertising, all of which are available to eMarketer Total Access clients, here.

Recent weeks have brought a raft of estimates and forecasts for UK advertising spending in 2010 and 2011. For digital media, the news is excellent; for traditional channels, more sobering.

Spending on internet ads grew 10% in the first half of 2010, the UK’s Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) declared in October. As reported by MediaTel, online spending came to almost £1.97 billion ($3.09 billion), or 24.3% of all UK advertising during the period.

According to the IAB, online display returned to healthy growth in H1 2010, with spending of £381 million ($598 million)—a rise of 6.4% compared to the first half of 2009. Banner ads accounted for 72% of the display market, or £272 million ($427 million), while pre- and post-roll video ads shot up to £20.7 million ($32.5 million), and display placements on social media sites contributed around £41 million ($64 million).

Display ad impressions (excluding video) rose even more steeply than spending between Q3 2009 and one year later, to judge by figures from comScore Ad Metrix. This suggests that advertisers were getting much better value for their display budgets in 2010, which doubtless encouraged more committed spending.

Classified ads also staged a comeback in 2010, the IAB reported, climbing 11.4% to £379 million ($595 million) during the first half of the year. Paid search marketing rose by 8.9%, to claim 59.9% of all online ad spending, or just over £1,180 million ($1,853 million).

The IAB saw the double-digit rise in online ad spending as part of a more general recovery; by its calculations, total UK ad spending reached £8.1 million ($12.7 million) in H1 2010, 6.3% higher than spending in the first half of 2009.

The Bellwether report, issued by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and accountancy firm BDO LLP, was less upbeat, noting that the ad budgets of UK marketers rose by an average 0.5% in Q3 2010—a marginal gain, though a welcome contrast to the 4.6% fall registered in Q2.

Like the IAB, the IPA found that the internet delivered the outstanding success stories, with spending on search up 9.9% in Q3 2010, and display spending up 13.3% compared with the previous quarter.

The IPA did point out that most of the 300 or so firms polled for the report were less optimistic about the financial prospects for their industries than in Q2. Moreover, the report’s author ventured that the strong economic performance in Q2 “likely marked the peak of the recovery cycle.”

Looking ahead to 2011, the latest Consensus Forecast from the World Advertising Research Centre (WARC) projected that worldwide ad spending will rise by 4.5%, following a gain of 4.4% in 2010.

Most of that growth will be driven by emerging markets, such as Brazil (where ad spending is predicted to leap 11.4% in 2011), China (13%), India (14%) and Russia (16.3%)

The UK and most other major European countries can expect minor gains by comparison. UK ad spending will rise 2.7% in 2011, said WARC, or just over half the 5% growth anticipated for 2010.

France and Germany will see 2% growth in total ad spending, while Spain will register a gain of 2.2%, after a decline of roughly 1% in 2010.

Globally, WARC foresaw average 2011 increases in Internet ad revenues (13%) far outpacing growth rates in traditional media (5.2% in TV, for example).

The UK, long a leader in internet advertising, will show the lowest growth rates, according to WARC. But even then, online ad spending will be an estimated 6.2% higher in 2011 than in 2010.

Most recently, key companies in the WPP Group, including agencies Ogilvy & Mather and Mindshare, raised their overall forecasts for revenue growth in 2011. According to CEO Sir Martin Sorrell, the revisions were based in part on WPP’s own 4.5% growth between January and October 2010. Group companies had earlier suggested that they anticipated expansion of between 3% and 4% in 2011.

Where does this leave UK ad spending, and online ad spending in particular? Some key aspects to keep in mind:

1. The economic situation remains volatile. In the past week alone, the UK has been buffeted first by news of another national financial bail-out in Ireland (the UK’s number one trading partner) and then by claims that the economy grew by 0.8% in the third quarter, and that spending cuts by the Conservative/ Liberal Democrat coalition government will not have as drastic an effect on public sector jobs as previously feared. The arrival of good and bad economic news in quick succession has been a hallmark of 2010, and looks set to continue as 2011 approaches. This uncertainty will weigh on advertisers, but most have little choice but to maintain spending at or above current levels. After the declines of 2009, further trimming might affect their market shares.

2. For the moment, the consumer mood is largely positive, buoyed by the prospect of Christmas. Many high street retailers—and several online players, including Amazon—are already offering mark-downs, and sales are healthy in many sectors. In the week ending November 13, the John Lewis group recorded sales of £76.93 million ($120.78 million), up 11.5% on the previous week, and 6.8% higher than the corresponding week of 2009. January may bring a less happy mood, however, as the holiday spirit recedes, some jobs are in jeopardy and value-added tax on most purchases goes up to 20%.

3. While growth in total ad spending may languish in the low single digits, there is little doubt that digital will again outpace traditional media, as in 2009 and 2010. Industry observers are unanimous in predicting that display (driven by sharply higher spending on video ads and social media placements) will gain further momentum, while paid search also thrives and mobile marketing moves up a gear.

France and Spain saw robust growth in online ad spending during the first half of 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and national Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) organizations in the two countries.

In Spain, online spending reached an estimated €377.4 million ($525.7 million) in H1 2010. This was 20.3% higher than online ad spending in the first six months of 2009, and represented 13% of ad spending in all media. The IAB/PwC figure is almost exactly half the full-year estimate for 2010 produced by eMarketer, suggesting that our view of the market’s potential this year will be borne out.

In France, digital channels are expected to claim 16% of all ad spending in 2010, but that will rise to 21% of total spending in 2014, IAB and PwC predicted. Online ad spending in the first half of 2010 passed €1 billion ($1.4 billion), according to several sources.

Display is enjoying a new lease of life in both France and Spain, according to IAB and PwC.

In Spain, for example, search commanded 52% of online spending in H1 2010, and total outlay on search rose 13.8% compared with H1 2009. But display was found to be growing more rapidly than search, for the first time ever, with spending up more than 28% year-on-year.

Cash-strapped Spanish advertisers typically opted for less expensive display options in early 2010. Embedded formats, including banners and skyscrapers, accounted for 51.3% of online display spending, while just 5.6% of expenditure went to expanding and floating formats.

Video advertising is crucial to rising display budgets throughout Europe, though spending levels and growth rates vary from one country to another. IAB and PwC forecast that rich media and video ads will double their share of French online revenues by 2014. In Spain, spending on video ads was up 100% in a single year. But the video ad market is inevitably much smaller than its counterpart in France, and constituted just 2.7% of online display ad spending in Spain during H1 2010.

New formats such as video encourage new measures of viewer engagement; these, in turn, are prompting marketers to rethink ad payment models. This revision is long overdue, according to PwC analysts. They found that 62.3% of display campaigns in Spain were booked on a CPM basis, while 15.3% used cost-per-acquisition or cost-per-action. Just under 13% ran for a fixed period of time and 7.3% were paid for cost-per-click. These approaches no longer reflect the reality of consumer interaction with digital media, said PwC.

For more information on recent trends in European online ad spending, read the eMarketer report, Western Europe Online Ad Spending: Leading the Recovery (October 2010).

What a difference a year makes. eMarketer’s September 2009 mobile advertising report carried the optimistic subtitle “Change Is in the Air.” Well, it’s safe to say that in 2010, change happened, and mobile advertising ramped up at a quicker pace than predicted.

eMarketer now predicts $743.1 million in total mobile ad spending in 2010, a more than 25% increase over last year’s forecast. Our projections are up on the order of 25% to 35% per year through 2014.

In my new report, “Mobile Advertising and Marketing: Past the Tipping Point” (full version available here to Total Access clients only), I explore in detail the key factors behind this increase in spending. They include:

• Major acquisitions of mobile ad networks by Google and Apple
• Rising adoption of super-capable multimedia smartphones
• The launch of the iPad and the rapid revitalization of the tablet market

Cautious optimism about economic recovery can take some credit as well, but it is really the injection of a new dynamic in the mobile space that is prompting marketers to overcome their reluctance to embrace mobile as a channel to connect with consumers.

Much of this new dynamic is attributable to the high-profile (and high-dollar) acquisitions by Google and Apple and the ways both companies have sought to redefine the mobile device and advertising markets. Google’s promotion of Android has made it a powerful alternative to Apple’s popular iOS platform. And Apple, in turn, has countered with the launch of the iPad, a new iPhone and iAd, the company’s own advertising platform exclusive to Apple devices.

As I noted in a previous blog post, iAd has generated its share of controversy. But in a recent address at the iMedia Breakthrough Summit, I shared the results of nearly a dozen interviews I conducted with industry executives over the past two months. Everyone I spoke with, including some of Apple’s competitors, agreed that iAd has been hugely beneficial to mobile advertising.

Google’s acquisition of AdMob is no less significant, because it will help bring scale to mobile advertising. In the report I write:

Part of what has made Google so successful is the degree to which it has helped demystify and simplify the media buying process. If it can achieve a comparable result with mobile and provide an equivalent level of tools, reporting and accountability, the effect will be significant in both the number of advertisers it will be able to attract to mobile and the amount they spend.

The importance of scale should not be underestimated; it is vital for the long-term viability of mobile advertising.

There is more detail in the report, but the bottom line is this: with consumers spending an ever-increasing amount of time in front of their mobile devices, marketers can scarcely afford not to pay closer attention to mobile. To the contrary, brands need mobile more than ever to stay relevant. And with more capable devices, faster carrier networks, ubiquitous wireless broadband and the availability of richer ad units, marketers have more possibilities than ever to deliver immersive experiences.

This shift is already well under way on the desktop. Starting with the rich media ads proliferating today, the next five years will see more interactivity, higher-powered creative and yes, perhaps even more emotion in mobile advertising.

eMarketer recently published its first ever worldwide ad spending projections, forecasting double-digit growth in the online space as the global economy continues to improve.

That fast digital growth will be supported by rising spending around the world, with increases coming especially quickly to the developing markets in Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East and Africa.

The outlook for total media spending is also positive, but less so. The advertising market as a whole took a significantly bigger hit during 2009—down 10.5% around the world compared with a small rise of 2% in the online space. By 2014, eMarketer predicts $564 billion in total ad spending around the world.

In addition, its recovery will be slower. Marketers who turned to digital for its effectiveness and measureability in tough times will continue to appreciate those qualities as budgets go up, and with the world’s population spending more and more time with digital media, dollars will follow eyeballs.

Even the gains that overall ad spending will make in coming years will be largely due to spending online, which is included in the total. Traditional media, for the most part, will remain stagnant or in decline.

To purchase the full report, “Worldwide Ad Spending,” click here. Total Access clients, log in and view the report now.