• Silicon Alley Insider, Tuesday, March 24, 2009 11:30 AM

Citigroup Analyst Mark Mahaney says that Google is having a weaker first quarter than Wall Street is currently estimating. The Street says Google revs will see a sequential drop of 2%, while Mahaney, following a talk with assorted search marketing execs, pegs the drop at closer to 7%. On hand were David Kidder, CEO of Clickable, Dema Zlotin, SVP of Strategic Services at Covario, Josh Styleman, Managing Partner at Reprise Media, and Roger Barnette, CEO of SearchIgnite.

According to the execs, Q1 search spending is "materially weaker" than Q4. Mahaney pointed to Covario, in particular, which specializes in technology and electronics, seeing spending reductions of 20-30% in January and February, which is much worse than Q1 2008, when its spending fell 3% sequentially.

However, despite the weakness cited by all in January and February, March has thus far showed a significant "snap back" in client spending. Covario was up 29% month over month, while SearchIgnite said March was on track to be its biggest-ever month in terms of client search spending. All panelists also agreed that Q2 would be stronger than Q1; Mahaney and Wall Street both expect Q2 to grow 2% sequentially.

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