As the most effective form of branding-oriented advertising on the Internet, rich media spending will rise at a strong and steady pace. Rich media's effectiveness is supported by the continued strong uptake of broadband access, both in the home and at work. Those factors are behind eMarketer's spending projections, which show U.S. rich media ad spending passing the $1 billion mark in 2003 and approaching the $2 billion range by the end of 2005. The New York-based research company expects spending will grow by 31.9% this year, and by next year rich media ad spending will make up more than one in five of the total online ad dollars spent in the U.S. If you don't believe eMarketer about rich media's effectiveness, consider that rich media ads get a click-through rate more than five times higher than for nonrich media, as DoubleClick reported in October 2003.

I've been following the rich media debate for a while and I'm surprised at the level of spending on this interuption model. I can't stand it, frankly, when I get blasted with rich media ads. I suspect most users feel the same way. It's nice to know that the click-through rates are higher than non-rich media (whatever that means), but does that prove that it works?