NEW YORK -- A research firm estimates that Google will surpass Facebook in display advertising revenue this year, beating every other company with a 15.4 per cent share of the U.S. market.

EMarketer said it expects Google Inc. to rake in $2.31 billion of revenue from online display ads.

These are more lucrative than the text-based ads that appear next to search results and account for the bulk of Google's revenue.

The researcher predicts that Facebook Inc. will hold 14.4 per cent of the market this year with $2.16 billion in U.S. revenue.

Earlier this year, eMarketer had expected Facebook to pass Google.

In all, eMarketer expects the display advertisement market to grow 21.5 per cent this year to $14.98 billion in the U.S.