The future of online advertising was top of the agenda for all those assembled at the 2006 Internet Advertising Bureau's (IAB) Engage conference held in London recently.

Yahoo!'s chief executive and chairman Terry Semel was one of the keynote speakers, at what is only the second Engage event to date, he insisted that the potential growth of online advertising is currently being understated.

Focussing on integration and how best to grab the attention of consumers through a varity of means, Mr Semel suggested that video will play a big part in stimulating continued growth in online marketing industries.

"Video will become a major factor on the internet, it will become ever present," Mr Semel said.

"I know we talk about web 2.0, but it's about people to people - a lot more sharing."

Yahoo! recently formed an agreement which will see it collaborate with Vodfone to reach new audiences via mobile phone handsets.