Browser contributor Telis Demos has been hammering home this week the important point that TV advertising from the country's biggest marketers continues to dwarf their online spending.

But it's equally important to remember that there are big ad bucks out there that come from smaller advertisers too, and the Web seems to be mopping those up. A market research firm called Borrell Associates is now claiming that in 2006, online ad spending for employee recruitment - a.k.a., help wanted - has for the first time surpassed comparable spending in newspapers. The actual amounts are $5.9 billion on the Web vs. $5.4 billion for newspapers.

We haven't seen the full report, but in a thorough post, Alan Mutter quotes this nugget:

"When the history of Internet advertising is written, recruitment sites will undoubtedly dominate the first chapter," says Borrell. "In 12 years, these sites have grown from a few job boards to hundreds of niche competitors. Online recruitment now accounts for 25% of Internet advertising."

It's definitely a major milestone. Moreover, the report predicts that online recruitment will grow to $10 billion by 2011.

Does this mean you should rush to buy stock in the likes of Monster (MNST)? Not necessarily. The online services have captured market share by undercutting newspapers on ad rates. That's great for advertisers, but it's a vulnerable long-term strategy. After all, as Mutter notes, more and more job seekers are being encouraged to file resumes online directly with prospective employers. Lots of college campuses now offer peer-to-peer classified ads. In other words, there are so many potentially disruptive forces out there that could drive ad rates close enough to zero that no middleman will be able to turn a profit selling classifieds.