Ad spending to be up in ‘08, but maybe not enough

REPORT: AD SPENDING TO BE UP IN '08, BUT
[SOURCE: CNNMoney.com, AUTHOR: Paul R LaMonica]
TNS Media Intelligence, a research firm that tracks ad spending, is forecasting that ad revenues will increase 4.2 percent this year. But much of the gains in 2008 will be tied to the Summer Olympics and political spending. Jon Swallen, senior vice president of research for TNS Media Intelligence, said that political ad spending should come in around $3 billion this year and that Olympics ad spending should be about $2 billion. Spot, or local television, ad spending should increase nearly 10 percent this year. He said a heavy focus on Hispanic voters will also help lift Spanish language media spending by almost 8 percent. But only one company is likely to get the lion’s share of the spending on the Olympics -- GE. Overall network television ad spending is expected to only increase by 2.7 percent this year. Other “traditional” areas of the media, most notably radio and newspapers, are also expected to have a tough 2008. TNS is forecasting growth of just 0.7 percent for radio ad spending and a 0.9 percent dip in newspaper ad spending. And if the economy continues to weaken, the presidential campaign and Olympics may not be enough to save the entire media business from another dismal year. Excluding political ad revenue, growth would only be about 2 to 2.5 percent this year, Swallen estimated.
http://mediabiz.blogs.cnnmoney.cnn.com/2008/01/07/report-ad-spending-to-...