Scivisum, a UK-based research firm is predicting that Web 2.0 will die in 2008 as companies pull advertising budgets from the user-generated content sites that make up Web 2.0. They cite questionable content as the motivator behind pulling advertising.

I believe the real issue is going to be ad-blocking. As more Internet users become savvy to ad blocking software, advertisers and content publishers need to become more creative in how advertising is presented to users. Advertising will become more embedded in the content that is delivered, thwarting viewer attempts at blocking. Publishers need to give viewers consequences for not viewing ads — no ads, no content.

Web 2.0 won’t die, it will just evolve. In fact, I don’t really like the term Web 2.0 anymore. This isn’t the same bubble that we saw “back in the day”. Sure, some companies are seeing ridiculous valuations with no clear business plan, but not nearly as many as there were. Contextual, non-blockable, advertising is the future of Internet advertising. However, a balance will need to be maintained to keep ads from being too invasive. I see limited invasiveness of advertising becoming a point of competition between content producers in the near future.