Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, has raised his forecasts for revenue increases for the global advertising agency in 2005, predicting overall growth of 2% to 3%.
For 2006, the media heavyweight is more optimistic, expecting growth of 3%-4% as advertisers raise their budgets for the Football World Cup and the Winter Olympics in Turin.
The positive affect of next year’s football world cup is also expected by media agency Carat to boost adspend, predicting global growth of 5.8% (see Carat Upgrades 2005 Global Adspend Forecast To 5%).
This forecast is confirmed by Merrill Lynch, with the analyst predicting growth of almost 6% in 2006, buoyed by spending related to the football World Cup taking place in Germany and recovery in certain markets (see Merrill Revises 2005 Ad Growth Forecasts Downwards).
Speaking about WPP, Sorrell claimed that it was too early to predict whether or not the company would outgrow the industry next year, but said that the group was “on track” to meet its 13.7% operating margin for 2005.
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