Channel 4's chief executive has predicted that search engine giant Google will soon outstrip the broadcaster in terms of UK advertising revenues.

Andy Duncan suggested in an interview with the Financial Times that Channel 4 expects to make around £800 million worth of income from marketing arrangements in 2006, compared to the £900 million or so Google looks set to make in the UK this year.

He went on to warn that broadcasters need to be aware of the "structural change" taking place within the advertising industry, a change which is increasingly seeing marketing budgets spend on making use of digital media.

"People need to wake up and realise that this is not just a cyclical issue. There is a deep structural change taking place," he told the paper.

Revenues made through web marketing have been increasing at pace over the last 12 months, a trend which looks certain to continue.

Google is the largest search engine provider in the world and recently acquired the video-sharing website YouTube in a deal worth over a billion dollars.