TV executive Andy Duncan yesterday pointed out that if Google continues to generate the same proportion of its revenue from the UK (it generated a massive 15% here in the first six months of its current financial year) it will net $1.57bn this year alone and will overtake ITV as the single largest recipient of advertising dollars within two years.

These numbers are extraordinary given the slenderness of most brands’ investment in internet marketing and advertising.  Online is still the poor relation of TV in terms of resources.  Teams are small, and budgets are spent on a combination of banners, promotional microsites and paid search in patterns that have changed little since 2001.  Perhaps this is the wake-up call UK corporations have needed to put more of their resources into online. …