Online advertising is now expected to grow just 6.1 percent to US$25.1 billion next year, Barclays Capital Internet analyst Doug Anmuth has forecast in a revision of his October estimate of 16.9 percent growth. In May, the group announced it expected U.S. ad spend would grow by 23.4 percent in 2009, paidContent reported Thursday.

However, although growth is getting smaller and smaller, it's better than the overall U.S. total ad spending, which is projected to drop 10 percent, to $252.1 billion. Anmuth's previous forecast was a 5.5 percent drop.

By the time 2008 is over, the year's online ad spend is predicted to increase to $23.6 billion, an 11.4 percent rise, Anmuth has stated, according to paidContent.

In 2010, Anmuth estimates online advertising will "reaccelerate" reach 28.1 billion, a growth of 12 percent.