A study released yesterday found that U.S. consumers are increasingly shifting their attention away from traditional, advertising-supported media in favor of entertainment such as the Internet, video games and cable TV, the Associated Press reported.

As a result, the boom in online advertising is expected to continue, with Internet advertising spending overtaking print newspaper advertising in 2010 as the largest advertising category, according to a report by Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a media investment firm.

From 2001 to 2006, the average amount of time spent by the typical consumer on paid media jumped 19.8 percent. Over the same period, the time spent with traditional or ad-supported media, such as broadcast television, radio and newspapers, declined 6.3 percent, the study found.

The study expects total Internet advertising to grow at an average annual rate of 21 percent through 2011. In 2010, that would put overall online ad spending at $54 billion, overtaking print-only newspaper advertising as the largest advertising category, which is expected to stand at $51.5 billion that year.