Keeping in line with the proliferation of Web 2.0, here are two new trends to keep an eye on in 2008 and beyond.

Social networks

U.S. advertisers are expected to spend nearly $1.6 billion in 2008 on social networking campaigns, up 69 percent from what they spent in 2007.¹ A key opportunity for social networking campaigns is MySpace.com – the largest social networking site in the world.

• MySpace receives 72 million U.S. unique visitors a month.¹
• 75 percent of U.S. Internet users consider MySpace their favorite social networking site.¹

Though it may come as a surprise, MySpace is extremely popular with adults, not just teens.

• MySpace reaches 41 percent of users aged 21 to 49.²
• In December 2007 alone, MySpace received 41 million unique visitors aged 21 to 49.²
• Users in this age range visit MySpace approximately 19 times per month.²

In fact, adults are spending more time on social networking sites like MySpace than they do on popular news sites like NYTimes.com or WSJ.com. Among 25- to 49-year-olds, MySpace receives nearly 7 times more unique visits than NYTimes.com.²

Ride the social networking wave by showing your ads on MySpace and other social network placements within Google's content network like Friendster, hi5, BlackPlanet, and certain Facebook applications. Try different ad formats, such as image, Flash, and video, to creatively showcase your offerings and engage with different types of people browsing these sites.

Learn more about social network placements within Google's content network.

Online videos

Online video engagement is expected to grow at a rapid speed. The following are projections for 2011 (U.S. only)³:

More people are spending more of their online time watching videos – so try tapping into this trend by showing video ads on the content network. Catch your potential customers' attention and engage them while you deliver your message. You can upload your video ad in several different formats, and there are no additional fees for running video ads.