Magic 8-ball, is my advertising job secure?

Ask again later.

Actually, ask now. And to get you started, here's a really detailed assessment from Merrill Lynch and in short, it's oogly.

Here's your cliff notes version:

• In a break from historical patterns, the equities research team at Merrill Lynch says the rate of advertising price inflation now trails the overall rate of economic inflation.
• "This supports our belief that media no longer enjoys the benefit of above average rate inflation, rather the opposite where increased competition & measurement is putting pressure on rates."
• ...at least part of the change may be due to the increasing efficiencies of digital media, which may be taking pressure off overall media inflation, especially in the traditional media, as marketers begin shifting budgets to lower priced online inventory.
• In fact, ML described the Internet as "the bright spot" within its downgraded overall advertising outlook..."the law of large Numbers" is starting to impact advertisers' budget allocations towards the Internet.
• There are "some indications that advertisers are putting some money towards new digital initiatives (i.e., mobile advertising, games, video on demand) rather than just online"

Viva Internet. Viva New Marketing. As for traditional media, "'er why don't we just raise our rates. That'll teach 'em."