WebProNews

Whatever sort of recession we're in hasn't yet resulted in any soup lines (or at least not any soup lines that made the evening news).  It also hasn't had any horrible effect on online advertising.

 Ballmer's Microsoft Does Okay With Ads

As we headed into the downturn, various experts predicted this would be the case, and it's nice to see that (so far) they've been right.  Granted, it's possible that advertisers would have headed into the land of more information and improved targeting, anyway, but on the other hand, there's the chance that the recession at least slowed online growth.

Here are the hard-to-deny stats, then.  Abbey Klaassen writes, "While Microsoft's fiscal third quarter disappointed many, ad revenue was a bright spot, growing 29%."

What's more, "According to Marketing Sherpa, 38% of marketers expect to increase their online ad spending during the economic downturn, a number only slightly higher than the 36% who expect to decrease their traditional media outlay."

Again, there's a risk that things will change; as the stock market's wild swings have shown, the conditions are right for just about anything to happen.  Online advertising continues to look like a pretty good business to operate in or rely on, however, and with any luck, that'll remain the case for quite some time.