SAN FRANCISCO, Calif — Online video is the fastest growing sectors in advertising, with spending expected to be up nearly  35 percent this year, says Geoff Ramsey, CEO of market research firm eMarketer.  Despite its rapid rise, he adds that the medium faces challenges in technology and content quality.

I caught up with him at the ad:tech San Francisco show. 

The much anticipated “connected living room” is still largely unplugged.  He pointed out that while anywhere from 11 to 24 percent of homes have the ability to connect their laptop to their TV, only 5 percent are doing so. 

Much hyped emerging technologies like convergence and real-time location services are alluring, but have a way to go before they reach any sort of mass penetration for advertisers

He says that real-time geo-location services like Foursquare and Gowalla hold a lot of promise, but their penetration levels aren’t high enough yet to lure advertisers looking for reach.

When Yelp, Facebook, Yahoo, and Google adopt those capabilities, then the technology will be more appealing, he told me.

Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer