Ad Spending Is on the Rise, but Growth Rate May Slow

Advertising Age
What's the Deal? Marketers Are Going Private and Public, Buying and Selling, Focusing on Core Brands

By Bradley Johnson
Published: December 20, 2010

1. Print media defined here by Ad Age as newspapers plus magazines. For this chart, Ad Age aggregated MagnaGlobal's media segments as follows: Broadcast is TV plus radio; print is newspapers plus magazines. Magna includes mobile in internet; and cinema in out of home. More info: magnaglobal.com. Source: MagnaGlobal's 2011 Advertising Forecast (December 2010).
CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Marketers in 2011 will boost U.S. ad spending 2.8%, down slightly from 2010's 3.2% growth rate, according to the average of three major media-agency forecasts.

Ad Age Annual 2011
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Worldwide ad spending will grow 5.3% in the new year, below the 5.9% growth seen in 2010, according to the average of three forecasts from Interpublic Group of Cos.' MagnaGlobal, Publicis Groupe's ZenithOptimedia and WPP's Group M.
U.S. ad growth in 2010 turned out better than predicted. A year ago, forecasters figured 2010 U.S. ad spending would be flat or down a bit.

Forecasts for 2011 suggest moderate growth in ad spending, reflecting the economy's slow recovery.

Slow ad growth is a welcome change from the recent past: 2009 U.S. ad spending tumbled 11.9% (average of three media agencies), the biggest drop since the Great Depression.

The 18-month recession officially ended in June 2009. U.S. measured-media spending turned north in first-quarter 2010, the first year-over-year quarterly gain since first-quarter 2008, according to WPP's Kantar Media.