Advertising expenditure in North America rested at $117 billion in 1997, and is expected to rise to more than $180 billion in 2011, according to ZenithOptimedia.

The overall annual growth reached the double digits in late the 1990s, but experienced a recession in 2000-2001. In 2007-2008 and 2008-2009, the recession is expected to go down in the books again, but rebound back to low single digits after that, SFN's World Digital Media Trends 2009 reported.

In 1997, TV and newspapers owned the lion's share of the total advertising expenditure, with more than 35 percent each. However, both face a decline throughout the years. TV, with actual expenditure forecast to grow from $42.7 billion to $57.8 billion in 2011, will see its share slip from 36 percent to 32 percent.

Newspapers fare worse, however, with projected shares down from 35 percent to 18 percent, and actual expenditures are down from $41 billion to $33 billion, according to ZenithOptimedia.

Radio also is expected to decline in share - from 12 percent to 10 percent. Magazines, cinema and outdoor, on the other hand, are on the rise from 1997 to 2011. But the biggest share gainer goes to the Internet, up from less than 1 percent, or $915 million, to more than 20 percent, or nearly $37 billion, in 2011, according to the report, World Digital Media Trends 2009, released by SFN and the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.