Media Post Publications reports on some new data today that shows most marketers believe Google AdWords gives a better return on investment than pay-per-click ads that run on Yahoo! or MSN. The study also showed that search marketing spending is expected to continue outpacing print, TV and radio spending into the next year.

A few snippets:

The study also forecast that marketing budgets would continue to shift online this year. Overall, the company predicted that online marketing spending would grow by 19 percent, with search marketing increasing by 26 percent. Print spending, by contrast, will increase by an estimated 3.3 percent, while TV and radio will grow by an anemic 2.4 percent.

and

Outsell fielded a survey to 1,200 advertisers in November. About 71 percent of respondents said that search ads on Google were effective, compared to 62 percent who considered search ads on Yahoo effective and 49 percent who thought MSN search ads were effective...the most enthusiastic Google fans also had the smallest marketing budgets. The average marketing budget of respondents who rated Google "extremely" effective totaled $3.7 million. But average budgets for those who considered.

Search advertising continues it's climb, making it even more clear that the companies that continue to delay the start of their own search marketing programs are simply letting their competition beat them to the punch.