Chantilly, Va.—Local online advertising in the U.S. will reach $42.5 billion by 2015, nearly double the $21.7 billion spent on local online advertising last year, according to a report from research firm BIA/Kelsey.

The report, “U.S. Local Media Annual Forecast (2010-2015),” projects a compound annual growth rate of 14.4% in local online advertising between 2010 and 2015.

By 2015, digital media will make up 23.6% of all local online ad spending, the report found.

“As the business climate improves and advertisers step back into the market, they are gravitating to digital options that perhaps were not as mature before the recession began,” said Tom Buono, CEO of BIA/Kelsey, in a statement.

“Our analysis indicates that as advertisers move to online, mobile and, particularly, the variants of social media, we are fast approaching a tipping point where digital media will soon become a dominant segment of the local advertising marketplace.”