In this week’s issue, Mass High Tech (MHT) reported that there were $196M in revenues from advertising in blogs, podcasts, and RSS feeds in 2007, compared to $78M in 2006.

While this figure is modest compared to the overall ad spend, they signal a growing comfort level on the part of advertisers to put some money into this medium. And that is significant — many advertisers have previously very been wary about a medium that gives its readers the ability to provide feedback and otherwise generate content about their brand without their direct control.

This positive trend in the blog ad market is welcome news during these recessionary times. Investors don’t like to miss out on a promising market, so you can bet they will be putting some money to work in this sector while it is still in its early days. Keep your eye out for startups targeting the blog ad market to come out of stealth mode in the coming months.

In the next three years, MHT projects the total ad revenue from blogs, podcasts, and RSS feeds to reach $1.1B. That’s certainly a big enough prize for investors to bet on.

© Eye on Startups & The Startup Guidebook

[Slashdot] [Digg] [Reddit] [del.icio.us] [Facebook] [Technorati] [Google] [StumbleUpon]