Robert Coen, director of forecasting at Universal McCann, has revised down his advertising predictions for 2002. He said that spending would increase by 2.1% to $236.2 million in the US this year as against his previous forecast of 2.4% (see Forecasts).
“The stock market does make me nervous,” Coen said, “and there are a lot of companies that are watching for profit levels and becoming more cautious.”
Political advertising is set to rise in the second half of the year and television and radio markets are already showing signs of revival. However, Coen claims that these profits will be negated by relatively weak growth in the cable and magazine sectors.
Outside the US, Coen reduced 2002 adspend forecasts from December’s $226.8 billion to $214 billion. He calculates that worldwide advertising spend will total $450.2 billion, an increase of 2.1% on 2001.
He is more bullish about prospects for 2003, predicting a 5.5% rise in global spending to $475 billion, of which US spend will account for $249.2 billion.