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Some 150 Chicago-based interactive agencies told survey-taker William Blair & Co. they expect Internet advertising revenues to grow 16 percent over the next 12 months. That's down from the 19 percent predicted in William Blair's last survey, AdWeek reports. Said Digitas exec Dave Marsey: "Advertisers are holding back until they see what's going to happen over the next few months."

The agencies expect paid search and direct response advertising to maintain their pace online, but recognize the overall economy's weakness will hurt brand advertising spending. "In a weak economy, people are going to move more towards direct response," said Centro CEO Sean Riegsecker. "We're seeing brand advertising take a much bigger hit this year." 61 percent of respondents said Google will fare the best of all Internet media companies over the next two years, 11 percent gave Facebook the nod, while only 6 percent favored Yahoo. That's a pretty strong argument against Yahoo management's estimation of its growth prospects, especially considering Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg expects his company to earn about $300 million in revenues this year, while Yahoo pulled in $1.35 billion just last quarter. (Photo by vertvert2002)