tim222 - 8:57 pm on Jun 8, 2009 (gmt 0)

A better question would be "Why would people bother to click 'buy now' ads when they have no intention of buying?" What's the benefit to them? Surely the average user isn't foolish enough to think "I should click on this ad just because I get to press my mouse button for free?"

Are they clicking less, showing restraint as pointed out by LifeinAsia? Or as freejung has suggested, are advertisers simply paying less per click? Either would cause a decrease in advertising spending and that would be reflected in Google's financial reports.

As I understand from Google's most recent report, 1st quarter 2009 revenue is up 6% over 1Q 2008, but down 3% off of the last quarter of 2008. But that doesn't correspond with what people are saying here. If a publisher's AdSense revenue is tied to the economy, then it seems like they might have seen decreasing revenue since the end of last year, but it should still be higher than the same period last year.

So somehow I think there's much more going on here than the economy...