In an interview with the Financial Times, Andy Duncan, head of the UK’s second largest commercial television station Channel 4, says that forecasts show Google overtaking C4 this year. If the trend continues, Google will get more revenue in the UK than any tv channel within 18 months.

For 2006, Google are expected to earn around £900m in the UK. This compares with £800m at Channel 4. The figures don’t include any future earnings for Google from their recent acquisition of YouTube.

However, Google’s gains do not all come at the expense of traditional media. A healthy proportion of Google’s revenue comes from first time advertisers rather than companies switching marketing budgets.