The New York Times has a lengthy article on the growth of online advertising in Great Britain, and how it’s outpacing the U.S. In fact, online advertising in Britain is growing by 40% and is expected to account for 14% of all advertising spend – more than twice the percentage in the United States.

While it may seem strange that Britain is able to go from lagging the U.S., to kicking its butt, it makes a lot of sense.

…British media are nearly all aimed nationwide in contrast to the United States newspaper and television markets, where local and regional markets are big players. These local markets in the United States have, so far, been slow to move ad money online.

A new Yahoo study, in conjunction with comScore Networks, has discovered that when combined, search and display advertising deliver profoundly better results than when used independently.

Online users who were exposed to both the search and display advertising campaigns increased their share of page views relative to competitive sites by 68 percent, and time spent by 66 percent. More importantly, among those exposed to both the search and display ads, purchases of the advertiser’s products and services increased by 244 percent online and 89 percent offline compared to online users with similar behavior who were not exposed to these ads.

There’s also positive news for those seeking brand-lift.