December 2007 data from Nielsen Online AdRelevance cited in a January 2008 MarketingCharts article show the financial services industry still leading online display advertising. Nielsen found that financial services companies spent over a
quarter of a billion dollars on online ads in December 2007, accounting
for 29% of all online ad spending.

Yet major financial services industry and national economic trends
make it risky to read these numbers as indicative of how online
advertising will develop for the rest of the year.

For starters, Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide
Mortgage may well mean a pullback in that company’s online display ads.
Countrywide was one of the top buyers of online CPM-priced display ads
in 2007.

Home prices may also take an ongoing hit. The Wall Street Journal’s
October 2007 "Economic Forecasting Survey" polled 60 economists, who
predicted a decline in US home prices of 1.26% in 2007 and 2.55% in
2008. According to the report, home prices have never before declined
two years in a row.

In eMarketer’s July 2007 projections, financial services online
ad spending reached into the billions, and the industry’s spending
represented about 15% of the annual Internet total.

US economic prospects are also worse than they were even in November, when December ad spending decisions were made.

Financial services industry dominance of online ad spending is clearly in question for 2008.

"The December 2007 industry online ad spending data are
something of a last gasp," said David Hallerman, senior analyst at
eMarketer. "Those ads were contracted last fall, and the outlook has
changed considerably since then."

Via eMarketer