Publicis Groupe is predicting a better fourth quarter - both for itself and for the overall ad market - and a return to growth in the second half of 2010.

The French advertising conglomerate reported that sales were down 5.3% in Q309 compared with the same quarter in 2008, while organic revenues declined by 7.4%, compared with analyst predictions of a 6.9% drop, MediaBuyerPlanner writes. The 7.4% drop was an improvement over the 8.6% decline in Q2.

Publicis said it will reach its target of having 25% of its revenue come from digital ads next year, thanks to its recent acquisition of Razorfish.

Publicis CEO Maurice Levy said the market hit bottom in June, and that the improvement seen in Q3 will continue throughout the rest of 2009 and 2010.

“The advertising market has stopped deteriorating during the summer and a slow and gradual recovery is under way,” he said (via the Wall Street Journal).

Levy also noted that Publicis will outperform the 10% decline predicted by ZenithOptimedia for the global ad market this year, and that the group may see overall organic growth for 2010 once it returns to growth mid-year.