A real bright spot in the online advertising market for next year will be at the local level, a trend that could bolster a number of startup companies ranging from AdReady to Next Door Media to Zillow.com. According to a new report from Borrell Associates, local online advertising is forecast to grow by nearly 18 percent in 2011 from $13.7 billion this year to $16.1 billion in 2011. PaidContent notes the bullish forecast, pointing out that Borrell previously had predicted local online ad spending to hit the $16 billion mark in 2012.

The Borrell report suggests that the big driver -- both nationally and locally -- will be targeted display advertising. The firm expects that that market alone will grow almost 60 percent next year to $10.9 billion in national and local ad spend combined.

"While national advertisers will increase their use of targeted display by nearly 50%, local advertisers will outperform even that," the report said. "Use of targeted display by advertisers local to the markets where their ads run will more than double, reaching more than $2.3 billion next year."

Another growth area remains streaming video advertising, which is expected to grow by 60 percent next year.

"More DIY and less expensive tools put this ad format within the budgets of even small advertisers," the report said. "Because of this, two out of every five streaming video ad dollars will come from local advertisers next year."

Meanwhile, run-of-site display advertising is expected to drop by nearly 14 percent on a national and local level. "This early online format has simply been overshadowed by newer, more productive ad formats, and competition has pushed display unit prices down," the report said.