Piper Jaffray analyst Safa Rashtchy has been covering the paid search space for ages, offering one of the earliest independent predictions of future spending. Rashtchy's Golden Search Turns Platinum from MediaPost looks at how his March 2003 projection that search would hit $7 billion was greated with amazement, while his recent November 2004 estimate increasing that figure to $13.5 billion seems to have caused hardly a ripple. Why? "I think search is now accepted as a big business," Rashtchy said. In this article, a closer look at his latest estimates -- though as always, I dispute that "contextual search" is search or that those figures should be lumped in with search.

Introducing SES Online
Want to view one of the sessions you missed or listen to an especially informative presenter a second time? SES New York sessions are available for purchase on ClickZ Academy's new e-Learning site. SES is now Online!

