Another sign of display ad spending’s travails this year… This time, TNS Media Intelligence says display grew 8 percent in H108 over the same period last year. At that time, display ads were up 17.7 percent in the first six months of ‘07 to $5.52 billion, accounting for 7.6 percent of all media ad expenditures, according to TNS. No word from the researcher as to what the share of display was from January through June this year. Still, it could be worse, as TNS points out that total ad spending during H108 fell 1.6 percent and media expenditures in Q208 was off 3.7 percent versus last year, the steepest quarterly drop since 2001. Release

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TNS’ report comes after a chaotic week in the financial markets, and other surveys that have cast a shadow on the state of the ad industry in general. Earlier this month Nielsen Online found a 27 percent decline in display ad spending by financial services companies drove a 6 percent year-over-year decrease in overall display dollars in the first half of 2008. The number of display impressions decreased by 9 percent during the same period. Also this month, JP Morgan revised its ‘08 U.S. display market estimate downward to $8.2 billion from $8.6 billion— or 14 percent year-over-year growth from its previous call for a 20 percent increase.