Declines in sponsorships, classifieds, and emails are to blame for the drop, according to eMarketer, which issued the spending projections. This year’s overall online advertising spend is expected to fall 2.9 percent from last year, with 2009 spending expected to come in at only $22.9 billion, according to Ad Age. This is the first time online spending has decreased since 2002.

There was a dim bright spot: Search spending is expected to rise 4 percent this year, while video spending will grow 46 percent. However, video remains too small of a category to have a noteworthy impact on the overall numbers.

The projections demonstrate the extent to which search is currently driving online advertising. The money flowing through Google alone helped numbers climb back up during the second half of the year, which is a hopeful sign for 2010, according to Ad Age. In 2009, only 10 percent of all advertising spend went online.

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