I always laugh when reading media reports of announcements by analysts. In the sensationalism-driven market that is today’s journalism, lots of superlatives are used as if some numbers cruncher at J.P. Morgan is the modern day Nostradamus.

One such analyst last week lowered his prediction for the growth of online advertising spend. Imran Khan adjusted his prediction of online display advertising in 2008 and 2009 saying the overall economic downturn will have a trickle-down effect. His 2008 estimate for the online display market is now $8.2 billion, down from $8.6 billion. He expects 27 percent annual growth in the U.S. ad market now, down from a 32 percent projection earlier this year.