Analyst: ‘Soft metrics’ ads to decline

Cory Bergman October 15th, 2008

“All eyes are on 2009,” said Canaccord Adams analyst Colin Gillis. “Display-advertising business models are under siege, as revenue visibility is increasingly unpredictable…. Display remains the domain of brand advertisers, and with its softer metrics is more readily seen as a source of spend that can be reduced.” And what about search? “We continue to believe that paid search-ad budgets will remain intact, based on our previously published analysis on the historical experience of direct-mail budgets during recessions,” said Cowen analysts Jim Friedland and Kevin Kopelman.

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