For the second quarter in a row worldwide spending on internet advertising has dropped by 5pc to US$13.9bn in comparison to US$14.7bn in the same quarter last year.
IDC’s Worldwide and U.S. Internet Ad Spend Report 2Q09 found that the internet ad spend had dropped in all global economies save for the Asia/Pacific region and Japan, which actually saw minor gains in the second quarter of 2009.
The internet advertising space in the US was hit hadest with a 7pc drop in spending, going form US$6.6bn in Q2 of last year to US$6.2bn presently.
“We think the industry will continue to see losses in the third and fourth quarters, but the growth rates – or the loss rates, if you will – will eventually begin to improve,” said Karsten Weide, program director, Digital Media and Entertainment at IDC.
“However, we also believe the industry may have to wait until mid-2010 until it sees real growth again.”
It was not just internet-based advertising that suffered financially this year: In the US all major advertising formats had year-over-year revenue losses for the second quarter of 2009 with traditional classifieds shrinking the most, by 17pc.
While all major publishers’ ad sales dropped by double digits there was one exception: Google. The search engine giant posted slight growth.
