Internet advertising sales in the U.S. are on pace to double from the period beginning last year to 2012, according to new research.

Research firm IDC estimates that during the six year period between 2007 and 2012, Internet advertising revenue will increase from $25.5 billion to $51.1 billion.

Although the current economic slowdown will lead to an overall contraction in ad spending overall, Internet advertising will continue to grow. It will increase about eight times as fast as advertising overall, IDC said.

The Internet will go from the number 5 medium all the way to the number 2 medium in just 5 years, making it bigger than newspapers, bigger than cable TV, bigger even than broadcast TV, and second only to direct marketing, IDC predicted in a released statement.

Search advertising will remain the biggest revenue generator over the forecast period in the United States, IDC said.

The researcher expects video advertising to be the principal disruptor of online advertising in the next five years, attracting the most new marketing dollars.

Sales in video ads will grow sevenfold from $500 million in 2007 to $3.8 billion in 2012. Brand advertisers will shift their ad spending dollars to video commercial, primarily from broadcast television and to a lesser extent from cable television.

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