• D: All Things Digital, Thursday, July 16, 2009 1:30 PM

Analysts and industry watchers are looking to Google's second quarter earnings for signs of a rebound in the broader ad market, Peter Kafka says. What makes Google, which depends on search advertising for 99% of its revenue, an indicator of the overall ad market? According to Kafka, the fact that marketers can buy Google ads instantaneously and without the haggling and lead-time traditional ads require, means that Google advertisers will be quickest to either return or ramp up their spending.

In any event, anyone looking for signs of a rebound in Google's second quarter earnings call, which happens after the market closes today, is likely to be disappointed, says Kafka. According to an unnamed search exec, unless there's a really big upside surprise, little will be revealed by Google's second quarter earnings, because Q2 is usually a slow quarter for search ads, so it will be hard to learn much from the results. The real key, the search exec argues, will be Q3.

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