Carl Fremont, a Web-ad buyer at Digitas, thinks that online ads will get cheaper over 2008, according to Silicon Alley Insider. Bad news for publishers, many of whom would like to raise rates but are awash in unsold inventory. One possible victim: Google. An unconfirmed figure I've heard bandied about: Google's ad sales may have fallen as much as 9 percent in December, thanks largely to the ongoing mortgage crisis. We'll know more when Google announces its fourth-quarter results on January 31.

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