Uptick in Global Ad Spending Is Forecast for 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/09/business/media/09adco.html?partner=yahoofinance
The predictions all called for an increase in worldwide ad spending in 2010 compared with 2009, which by most measures will end up as the worst year in decades. Still, there were caveats, among them an expectation for a less robust recovery in the United States than in other markets and continued weakness in demand for ads in print media like magazines and newspapers.

And ad spending is unlikely to snap back quickly, the forecasters warned, but rather will take several years to return to the levels of 2007 or 2008.

In ascending order, the forecasts for 2010 compared with 2009 call for an increase of 0.8 percent, from the GroupM unit of WPP; 0.9 percent, from the ZenithOptimedia division of the Publicis Groupe; and 5.9 percent, from the Magna unit of Mediabrands, a division of the Interpublic Group of Companies. (A forecast from UBS, offered during the panel discussion, was for an increase of 3.9 percent.)

Of the 10 largest advertisers in the United States for the first nine months of 2009, TNS reported, eight spent less than they did during the same period a year ago. The exceptions were Pfizer, up 11 percent, and Sprint Nextel, up 51.1 percent. The declines ranged from 1.3 percent for Johnson & Johnson to 15.9 percent for the largest advertiser, Procter & Gamble.