Interpublic’s Magna unit is predicting that online advertising will have a relatively strong year - despite the flat growth projected for traditional ad markets.
These findings follow predictions from just a few months ago that US ad revenues would decline by 1.3% in 2010. The company has revised its projections, and now forecasts (pdf) that advertising revenues will be essentially flat this year, down just 0.1% from 2009. [pdf] (via MarketingCharts).
According to Magna:
- Direct online ad spending will jump 12.2%
- National online ad spending will grow 4.0%
- Local online spending will grow 3.7%.
In its January 2010 forecast update, Magna said it expects advertising revenue will be $161 billion, excluding the effects of the Olympics and local elections. Including Olympics and election spending, the US ad economy will rise 1.4%. The first quarter of 2010 will be the final quarter of decline during this most recent recession, according to Magna.
Magna also upgraded its longer-term forecasts, predicting that ad dollars will grow by a compounded annual growth rate of 2.3% between 2010 and 2015, up slightly from the 2.1% predicted in December.
