According to this article in eMarketer the spending growth of online advertising in Europe has fallen in 2009. This information comes from research conducted by IAB Europe, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Screen Digest. Even though there was a slight setback in 2009, online ad expenditure is expected to grow in 2010 rising nearly 6.5% year over year, which is still a little sluggish when you compare it to the 21.3% hike in 2008. It is extremely evident that the economic downturn has affected online advertising spending growth. Here's a chart below that details the change in 2009.