I think that the article is a bit naive. While the growth of ad revenues is undoubtedly decreasing and most likely spending will greatly dip as the "panic" con

I think that the article is a bit naive. While the growth of ad revenues is undoubtedly decreasing and most likely spending will greatly dip as the "panic" continues, this doesn't mean that a web businesses cannot be successful on ad revenue. Newspapers succeeded during the Great Depression as did radio and other ad-based businesses. But this time, newspapers are going out of business because people are getting their news from the web (the classic Innovator's Dilemma pattern). Indeed, with the recession, people will have even more time to surf the web so web traffic and the importance of the web will continue to increase. Where the eyeballs are, ads must go especially during a downturn. In the next 2-3 years, especially after we move away from "panic" and back to recovery, it seems to me, web ad spending will start growing again. I should also mention that I currently work at an start up that depends on web-based ad sales. I've had opportunities to move somewhere else but my gut feeling is that a lean business with a high quality product is the place to be right now, even if it depends on ad sales for its profitability.