Online advertising is expected to surpass newspaper advertising in size in the United States by 2011.

The findings from the annual research report on the media sector by Veronis Suhler Stevenson come as declining advertising sales continue to be reported by newspaper groups this year.

The study, out Tuesday, predicts online advertising will grow by more than 21 percent each year, reaching $62 billion in 2011. Newspaper advertising is expected to reach $60 billion in 2011.

The shift from traditional media advertising to online is happening even faster in other places around the world. Some forecasters expect newspaper advertising to be surpassed by online spending in the United Kingdom and Sweden this year, according to the Financial Times.

“The path of online advertising and newspaper advertising is a continuation of what we've been observing for many years, but it is finally getting to the point where the lines will cross,” James Rutherfurd, managing director at VSS, is quoted by the Financial Times as saying.

Broadcast, cable and satellite television combined are expected to continue to take the biggest piece of the advertising pie, reaching $86 billion in 2011, according to the report.