The astounding drop-off in US newspaper advertising revenues (down 9.4% year on year to $44bn during 2007) can be read three ways. One: the slow down from the credit crunch took hold faster and harder than everyone thought; two: the credit crunch is accelerating the switch out of old, unclickable, untrackable media into new clickable, trackable media; three: this move is being spearheaded by individuals - the classifieds market dropped hardest - down 16.5%, retail only dropped a modest 5%.

Retail is slower to switch because it hasn’t yet totally got to grips with the online model, where customer behaviour, promotions, responses and conversions are tracked and managed online. That will happen increasingly during the coming slowdown.

David Kershaw CEO of M and C Saatchi the advertising agency was interviewed by Greg Wood on BBC’s Today programme this morning and called the state of the advertising industry as follows.

“Clients have not stopped spending money, but of course they are nervous about the impact of the credit crunch on consumer spending. That means they are very keen to see that their money is being spent efficiently and to track ROI. Of course that’s easier to do online.”

He talked about paid search, but he could have mentioned any area of activity where technology allows clicks and consumer behaviour to be tracked.