The war in Iraq has had a significant short-term effect on media industry confidence, with the majority of senior professionals expecting the UK economy to decline over the next three months.
The findings of a study carried out by the Media Guardian and
NOP show that 51% of media owners, advertisers and media planners expect the economic climate to become increasingly volatile in the short-term, with just 4% predicting growth over the next three months.
This reinforces the findings of the IPA’s recent Bellwether Report, which shows that UK marketing budgets were on average revised downwards in the first quarter of this year, with just 18.2% of marketers planning to increase their budgets over the coming months (see INSIGHTanalysis: Bellwether Sees Weakest Advertising Outlook Yet).
The long-term prognosis is more positive and the study shows that just over a third of respondents believe that the economy will grow over the next twelve months, although 33% are still anticipating a decline.
| What Do You Think Will Happen To The UK EconomyÂÂ…? |
| |
|
|
| |
Over the next 3 months |
Over the next 12 months |
| Grow |
4% |
34% |
| Decline |
51% |
33% |
| Stay the same |
43% |
28% |
| Don’t know |
2% |
5% |
| Source: Media Guardian/NOP |
