Search giant Google has topped a list of the biggest companies in the information industry, which itself is worth $365 billion.

A new report from market research firm Outsell demonstrates that the search engine climbed from fourth place in the top ten list in 2005 to first place in 2006.
The other companies in the top ten are: Reed Elsevier, Thomson Corporation, Pearson plc,
Gannett, Yahoo, McGraw-Hill Companies, VNU Group, Reuters Group and Wolters Kluwer.
Others in the top twenty, which collectively took $106.4 billion of revenues last year, include Bloomberg, News Corporation and Yell.

Search engine ad spending is set to jump by 39 per cent this year, the firm predicts, while print advertising is likely to lose yet more ground as online boosts its share of the market to 20 per cent.

Within online ad spending, cost-per-action ads are due to grow by eight percent, while online sponsorships will increase by 12 percent. "Advertisers rate online advertising very effective for branding, contrary to common wisdom that online shines at leads but is weak for branding," an Outsell spokesman said.