GroupM global ad spend forecast falls amid Eurozone turmoil

GroupM has downgraded its 2012 global ad spending forecast, predicting growth of 5.1% to a total of $506 billion.

This revision follows on from Group M’s prediction back in December 2011 that global ad spend would increase by more than 6% to $522 billion.

The rate of ad spend for 2011 was $482 billion, which constituted a 5% increase over 2010’s figure of $459 billion – for 2013, meanwhile, Group M expects ad spend to hit $533.2 billion, a growth of 5.3%.

Group M was forced to issue a similar downgrading for the US market, from 4% to 3.6%, which the company’s chief investment officer blamed on global economic uncertainty.

Rino Scanzoni said: “We attribute the decline in US ad spend to a number of factors, including a loss of economic momentum and the global deterioration from all continents, but particularly the Eurozone and political and fiscal uncertainty at home for the election and beyond.”

The Eurozone crisis precipitated a drastic fall in ad spend among the most affected nations – 6% in 2011 compared to an expected 8.8% this year – however the GroupM report did also predict a stabilisation period for 2013.

Digital spend is set to explode, meanwhile, with an 18% global increase predicted this year and 22% anticipated for 2013.