Bucking conventional wisdom, a new survey of small and mid-sized advertisers from a media buying agency found that 33% of respondents said they expect to increase their ad spending compared to 2008. However, this unexpected positive finding was tempered somewhat by other execs who said they planned to decrease ad spending in 2009.

The survey of 5,300 senior execs by Round2 Communications during the second quarter focused on marketers of products (as opposed to services) at companies with revenues between $50 million and $1 billion, with 20.5% falling in the $50 million-$100 million range, and 34.2% in the $100 million-$500 million range.

The survey group skewed smaller in terms of media budgets, with 64.4% saying their media budget will come in under $1 million; 30.1% said their budget would fall in the $1 million-$10 million range.

Taking the bad news first: 17.8% of the respondents said they planned to decrease ad spending by 0%-10%, 16.4% by 10%-20%, 16.4% by 20%-30%, 4.1% by 30%-40%, and 12.3% said they planned to decrease spending by 40% or more.

On the up side: 24.7% said they planned to increase spending 0%-10%, 5.5% said by 10%-20%, 1.4% by 20%-30%, and 1.4% said they planned to increase spending 40% or more.

The survey also contained some bad news for print media. While 76.6% of the respondents said they previously used print media, 46.6% of respondents said they expected print expenditures to decrease in 2009.

Further studies noted:

1) Contrary to previously published survey results, 24.7% of all respondents here indicated that their 2009 media expenditures will remain flat to potentially increase approximately 10% over 2008.

2) As a result of economic slowdown, 40% of respondents shifted dollars into e-mail marketing from print.

3) 42.1% of respondents believe that media purchasing power per dollar has increased over the last 12 months 0-10%

4) Almost half (48.2%) have diverted dollars from print to other media because of closings.

5) Until the economy recovers, 37.5% of respondents were seeking media opportunities; 35.7% were going to spend the bare minimum.

6) Exactly half believe media allocation to return to peak levels in 2001.

7) A little more than half (59.6%) expect the economy to recover in 2011.

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