Some, like Henry Blodget at Silicon Alley Insider, have called the latest online ad numbers a “grinding halt,” but the fact remains that Q3 online ad spending is up over last year by 11%. Granted, the fourth quarter of 2007 had the highest spend ever–a number that has since not been surpassed–but the declines are hardly cataclysmic.

The report, published by Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, includes a telling quote by David Silverman of PriceWaterhouseCoopers:

“a weakening economy will continue to be a challenge to all forms of advertising-supported media. However, the Internet should be better poised to withstand the storm given its ability to combine performance-based advertising along with broad-based branding.”

This is also the way I see it: since so much web advertising delivers easily measurable results, smart marketing teams will be shifting their focus to the Internet, especially as people are more leery of making big purchases and are more likely to use the web as a resource in researching purchasing options. Whether it be big ticket items like Toyota Camrys, staples like Hanes underwear, or local searches like with Irvine teeth whitening, for instance, consumers will be searching long and hard before they part with their hard earned dollars.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 11:54 pmand is filed under Search Engine Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.