The rest of the ad industry is still, in case you were wondering, in for some pain.  In an official release, Carat said, "The worldwide prediction for 2008 is revised downwards by just over a percentage point from 6.0% to 4.9%.  2009 is also very slightly reduced, from 4.9% growth to 4.8%."

But again, according to Carat, online advertising should keep attracting cash.  The world is supposed to encounter an increase of 23.7 percent instead of 23.3 percent this year.  In 2009, spending is expected to rise by 18.6 percent instead of 17.8 percent.

Jerry Buhlmann, the CEO of Aegis Media (which includes Carat), continued in a statement, "Internet is set to overtake radio this year to become the world’s third most popular medium, behind TV and print."  Also, "With search now central to the planning and execution of any campaign, online media brings a greater level of accountability not just to itself but to TV, print and other forms of advertising."

It may be a bit hard to believe this news today, given that Google’s stock dropped by 1.18 percent even as the Dow and Nasdaq both headed upward.  Still, since two-thirds of 2008 is over, Carat’s presumably basing its predictions on fairly solid data, and people in online advertising should feel some measure of reassurance.