More evidence to suggest that an internet advertising slowdown is taking hold in the US: figures from the IAB today point to overall growth of only 18 per cent in the first quarter of this year, a marked slowdown from 26 per cent in all of 2007 (and more than 30 per cent in each of the previous three years.)
Ever the optimists, the IAB and PwC, which puts the numbers together, expressed their habitual confidence in the secular shift of advertising online. Apparently this was “not so unexpected,” given the seasonally softer first quarter and “an overall economic slowdown.”
However, this was the first time in four years that first quarter revenues were actually lower than they had been in the preceding three months, so the numbers shouldn’t be shrugged off too easily.
