• ClickZ, Wednesday, October 15, 2008 12:15 PM

Few doubts that the credit crisis and ensuing stock market plummet will eventually take its toll on digital ad spending. The question is when. According to several executives at a Media and Money conference yesterday in New York City, the answer could be very, very soon.

Jeff Lanctot, chief strategy officer of Microsoft's Avenue A | Razorfish, said publishers are now anticipating trouble hitting financial targets for the fourth quarter. "We saw a decline in financial services in Q2, and automotive is starting to pull back," he said. Though he does expect digital advertising to fare better in the long term.

Ironically, the fact that digital ad campaigns can be adjusted quickly could end up hurting the market, he said. For example, an advertiser looking to slash his budget quickly can't do much about a print or TV budget that's set through the end of the year. But pulling back on digital can happen almost immediately. "The blessing of digital media, (the ability to) respond quickly, will become its curse," he said.

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