Online ad spending dropped 7% in second quarter, worst not yet over, says IDC

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Google grew its online ad business, while the rest of the industry faltered. Credit: David Paul Morris / Getty Images

The worst is not yet over. U.S. spending on online ads, which dropped 7% to $6.2 billion in the second quarter from a year earlier, is poised to drop again this quarter, said technology consulting firm IDC.

‘We will continue to see losses in 3Q and 4Q, but the ... loss rates ... will likely begin to improve in the fourth quarter,’ IDC analyst Karsten Weide wrote. ‘We believe the industry may have to wait until mid-2010 until we see real growth again.’

Worldwide, things weren’t much better. Online ad sales slipped 5% to $13.9 billion in the second quarter, down from $14.7 billion a year earlier.

With the exception of Google, the pain was spread among nearly all online ad platforms. Monster.com was smacked with a 31% decline. AOL suffered ‘both weakness in display ads as well as internal sales problems,’ Weide wrote. Yahoo saw revenue erode 13% in the second quarter, though it blamed some of the decline on currency fluctuations.

-- Alex Pham

Follow my random thoughts on games, gear and technology on Twitter @AlexPham.