The Online Chicken Littles

“Web Ad Growth Deteriorates” reads the headline today from AdWeek. Yikes, I new things were bad, but not that bad. Here’s what dictionary.com says about deteriorate:

1. To grow worse; degenerate: The weather deteriorated overnight. His health had deteriorated while he was in prison.
2. To weaken or disintegrate; decay: The nation's highways are deteriorating at a rapid pace.

And yet, here’s what the article says about the latest IAB report:

• Q4 had the highest level of spending online ever, yet the growth compared with 2007 for the quarter was only 2.6%
• The 4.6% increase in growth from the previous quarter was the lowest increase since 2002
• While non-internet media was down 2% for 2008, eMarketer is still forecasting a 4.5% growth in 2009 for online advertising.

Disintegrate, decay, degenerate, and deteriorate. Yet this is all happening in a time when our economy is in the worst shape it’s been in 70-80 years. I would have expected even worse numbers, given what’s happening to businesses across the globe.

Instead, I see a lot of positives in those numbers. I see growth and opportunity, and a realization that people have moved online and brands need to follow.

As my old thesis advisor once told me “What you see depends on where you stand.”

Where are you standing, Adweek?