There are some disconcerting figures from the IDC market research firm about online advertising. It's predicting a year-over-year decline in the first quarter of 2009, the first such decline since the dot-com bubble burst in 2001.
A second-quarter decline is also expected, IDC says.Search ad growth has slowed, while classified and display ads have plummeted. IDC had predicted earlier a 10-per-cent growth in 2009; that forecast will be revised downward when its next forecast in published next month.
