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Spending on emerging media such as social networking sites, digital out-of-home and mobile is likely to not continue next year as marketers tighten ad budgets because of the worsening economy.

2009 will not be the year for testing, brands will stick with areas that are tried and true. Not to say that advertising growth online will not continue to grow, but advertisers will hold the reins tighter on their ad spending. I do not see 2009 as a year that advertisers will be testing on a large scale, and become less adventurous in exploring newer platforms in the midst of a severe downturnof the economy.

The grim outlook for ad spending into next year is bad news for much-hyped categories such as mobile and digital out-of-home advertising. With the economy the way it is, mobile is one of the least areas clients are going to be looking at because it’s more of a test-and-learn situation.

From a media buying perspective, mobile is unknown teritory and just too complex to buy at scale.” Couple that complexity with more austere budgets and mobile becomes even less desirable as an ad option.

Not everyone is planning to do away with experimentation, and some advertisers will attempt to gain ground over competitors during this time, but many advertisers will attempt to allow the competition to be the guinea pigs.

Even with the general economy in complete disarray nearly all of the “experts” are predicting a dismal Christmas season for retailers. Merchants who sell online are expected to enjoy double digit growth over last year, despite the current financial meltdown, and lack of interest in experimental advertising. Online retail sales are expected to grow during the holidays by 12% to $44 billion according to Forrester Research.

In my opinion, the reason why online merchants continue to gain ground despite the current recession, is that rising financial anxiety and tight credit availability are making holiday shopping this year an exercise in self restraint, and the web offers a quick, clean shot at purchasing 24 hours a day.

On Black Friday last year, the day after Thanksgiving Day, that is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year, there are newspaper ads touting phenomenal bargains at the local malls. But online websites have lowere operating costs and generally operate yea round with comparable bargain prices.

Certainly everyone feels the pain when the general economy suffers as much as it is suffering now, but with the web continuing to grow, I don’t see myself sitting in front of a store at 2am waiting for the doorbuster deals of black friday 2008. But if you are still not convinced, we are keeping track of the black friday ads 2008.