One of the hottest recent industry trends, advertising, is garnering attention from investors and developers lately, thanks to new tech, mobility and analytics. From a market of $790 million in 2010, advertising is expected to surge to $4 billion in 2015, says a BIA/Kelsey forecast.

There are even competitions organized to advance the advertising sector. This includes the Million-Dollar Technology challenged by MDC, Toronto. The competition goals for the next application of technology that will enhance the efficiency of advertising, marketing and brand-building businesses. It was won last year by Kip Voytek, a specialist in interactive advertising. The group proposed the organization of a national institution geared towards digital arts and sciences.

As for the giants like Facebook and Yahoo, advertising is a significant factor of business. This year, Facebook is expected to surpass Yahoo’s advertising revenue, said an eMarketer forecast. Facebook, which currently comes second to Yahoo, will emerge with 17.7 percent market share in 2011, compared to last year’s 12.2 percent. Yahoo will go down from 14.4 percent last year to 13.1 percent this year. Moreover, Yahoo, who owns 43 percent of Alibaba shares, a Chinese online player, is currently being negotiated by Alibaba for a transfer from ALipay to a new corporate entity controlled by Alibaba founder. The deal is not locked in yet. Meanwhile, Google will continue to be third placer this year just like last year. However, their search giant’s shares had hit the lowest last week which was reportedly caused by the growing government investigations with anti-trust concerns.

In the US, online advertising revenues rose from 3 percent in 2009 to 15 percent in 2010, and estimated to increase by 10 percent in 2011. The US accounts for more than a third of the Online Consumer Goods market. As the internet keeps taking the world by storm, it’s not surprising that corporations will invest heavily in online advertising. Online advertising has demonstrated is marketing prowess by increasing online retail sales from 11 percent in 2009 to 13 percent and 2010, and will be topped by another 11 percent in 2011.

Moving forward, the Sara Lee Corporation, Downers Grove, Ill., chose the Seattle office of Publicis Worldwide as the creative agency for Ball Park frankfurters, succeeding TBWA/Chiat/Day. Ball Park’s advertising last year was estimated to be around $13.1 million.