Google could overtake ITV to become Britain’s largest recipient of advertising by 2008 after it emerged yesterday that the search engine was on track to overtake Channel 4 this year.

The search giant generated $712 million (£373 million) in revenues in the UK in the first six months of this year, according to its own regulatory filings, and is on track to hit $1.57 billion (£824 million) for the year if Britain continues to generate 15 per cent of Google’s total business.

Andy Duncan, chief executive of Channel 4, used the figure to give warning that the financial future of traditional television was under threat. He said that Google “will extract approaching £900 million this year, overtaking Channel 4 on £800 million.

“People need to wake up and realise that this is not just a cyclical issue — there is deep structural change, rather like global warming. If we want to protect the fantastic legacy of UK broadcasting, we need to wake up to this sooner rather than later.”

His warning irritated Google insiders, who said that the search company was helping to “grow the advertising pie in the UK”. Google principally competes with other forms of classified advertising, but the company’s recent purchase of YouTube also makes it the leading video- sharing site on the web.

The chief executive’s warning comes as Channel 4’s financial future is being reviewed by Ofcom, the communications regulator. Despite the success of Big Brother and Deal or No Deal, Channel 4 is worried that it may not be able to generate enough money to invest in high-quality programming, although rivals such as ITV argue that it is generating record profits.

Wall Street analysts expect Google to continue its exponential growth, and if Britain continued to be as important to the company as it is now, the company would make $2.27 billion in 2007 and $2.85 billion in 2008. Meanwhile ITV, Britain’s largest recipent of advertising is expected generate net advertising revenue at between £1.3 billion and £1.4 billion both years.

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