Internet ad spending will surpass radio this year, with about 9.5 percent of global ad budgets allocated to online media, according to Steve King, head of research firm ZenithOptimedia.

“Internet has already overtaken cinema and outdoors. This year it will overtake radio. In a couple of years it's going to overtake magazines as an advertising media,'' King said at a presentation in Paris Wednesday, Bloomberg reported.

Online ad spending will rise 26 percent this year, mostly from search-related ads, according to ZenithOptimedia. The overall ad market worldwide is expected to grow 4.7 percent.

According to King, consumers spend 15 percent of their time online, while only nine percent of advertising budgets are allocated to the Web, which indicates room for growth. The increasing Internet usage will also attract more online ad spending - with 19 percent of the global population having online access this year, up from 17 percent in 2007, King said, according to Bloomberg.

Internet ad spending will overtake magazines in 2010, King said at the conference. This year, radio will make up nine percent of all ad budgets. “Radio is still growing, funnily enough, because of digital,” he said.