• October 19, 2009

Market research firm eMarketer has revised its online ad spending forecast for 2009 downward, projecting a 2.9% decline to $22.8 billion. It had previously predicted a 4.5% increase to $24.5 billion.

Market research firm eMarketer has revised its online ad spending forecast for 2009 downward, projecting a 2.9% decline to $22.8 billion. It had previously predicted a 4.5% increase to $24.5 billion.

The eMarketer forecast is in part tied to online ad estimates provided by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which earlier this month reported a 5.3% drop in online ad spending to $10.9 billion in the first half of 2009 compared to a year ago.

Moderate growth will resume in 2010 and 2011, with spending expected to grow 5.9% and 6.6%, respectively, according to eMarketer. By 2012, the firm predicts online ad spending will return to double-digit growth (12.1%) due to the presidential election and economic stabilization. --Mark Walsh