There’s gold in these thar hills

There’s gold in these thar hills

: Jupiter says that by 2007, online advertising spending will match magazine advertising spending.

A new report from Jupitermedia’s JupiterResearch predicts that dollars spent on online advertising… will match dollars spent on magazines by 2007, then surpass them in 2008.

In a sign of how the Internet is rebounding, Jupiter predicts that marketers will spend $8.4 billion on online advertising in 2004, while earmarking $12.2 billion for magazines. In 2007, the two platforms each will get $13.8 billion. In 2008, online ad spending surges ahead, capturing $15 billion, compared to magazines’ $14.5 billion, Jupiter predicts….

Web offerings have become “more targeted and much smarter” about how they measure their audience, says Gary Stein, a Jupiter senior analyst.

The Journal also points out that Jupiter has been, well, aggressive with Internet forecasts in the past. So give or take a year.