Advertising expenditure in Germany grew from €16.1 billion in 1996 to €20 billion in 2000. It experienced a recession at the beginning of this decade, but has been back up since 2004, and is expected to exceed €18.8 billion again in 2010, according to the research firm ZenithOptimedia.

Online advertising expenditure, which is merely niche before 2000, will increase from €719 million in 2007 to €991 million by the end of this year, and is expected to reach €1.59 billion. Growth is expected to continue, but slow down, ZenithOptimedia has forecast.

Newspapers, by comparison, are seeing almost no growth in these years, with an only 0.4 percent annual growth, from 2006 to 2010. However, it does control most of the advertising market, reaching €6.96 billion in 2010.

Outdoor and magazines followed behind, with the second and the third biggest ad expenditure throughout the years.

Online ad expenditure, although still niche, is gaining share aggressively from less than one percent before 2000, to a predicted nearly 8.5 percent in 2010, according to ZenithOptimedia.