Growth in online advertising and retail spending is slowing according to reports conducted by research firm eMarketer and comScore

EMarketer forecast online ad spending of 25.7 billion dollars in 2009, just 8.9 percent more than the 23.6 billion dollars that will be spent in 2008.

In August, before the full impact of the economic slowdown, eMarketer had predicted online ad spending would grow by 14.5 percent in 2009.

EMarketer said online ad spending was expected to grow by 10.9 percent in 2010 and reach 13.5 percent in 2013.

It said paid search advertising, a market dominated by Google, was expected to grow by 14.9 percent in 2009 to 12.28 billion dollars.

Online spending on video advertising is expected to remain strong but its growth is expected to be cut nearly in half next year, eMarketer said, to 44.9 percent.

Weak retail spendings

comScore said 8.2 billion dollars was spent online during the first 23 days of November, four percent less than during the same period last year, when 8.5 billion dollars was spent online.

ComScore forecast that online retail spending for the November-December holiday period will be flat versus year ago, significantly lower than last year's growth rate of 19 percent.