-By Mike Shields

Even before the recent and ongoing Wall Street upheaval, financial service brands were pulling back on their online ad activity. And much like on Wall Street, their pullback is effecting the health of the overall ad economy.

The financial services category—typically one of the more robust in the online ad space—spent 27 percent less on display advertising through the first six months of this year, according to Nielsen’s latest report. That decrease led to a 6 percent overall dip in display ad dollars, and a 9 percent decrease in ad impressions, says the report.

Though online ad spending estimates are know for being inconsistent and often heavily inflated (Nielsen says that financial services brands spent $1.1 billion during the first two quarters of 2008 compared to $1.5 billion during the same period of 2007), directionally this decline is revealing, particularly given that many other major categories continue to exhibit growth. For example, according to Nielsen Online’s AdRelevance data, spending by automotive brands soared by 45 percent in the first half of the year, while consumer goods brands increased their spending by 32 percent compared to the first half of 2007. Among the specific brands that exhibited strong spending increases were Anheuser-Busch, Unilever, Toyota and General Motors, said Nielsen.

Overall, online advertising continues to grow at a robust rate once dollars from search, text ads and video are factored in. According to Nielsen, total online ad spending increased by 11 percent during the first half of 2008.