Or so says, Brian Wieser, the director of global forecasting at Interpublic's Magna unit, in an updated ad outlook released moments ago. "In total, we expect media suppliers to generate $164.5
billion dollars of advertising revenues during 2010," Wieser writes. “On the back of continued improvements in the economy and an increased likelihood of sustained growth in the near-term,
MAGNA forecasts that excluding Political and Olympic advertising on TV, on a normalized basis the US advertising economy will grow by 1.6% during 2010, ahead of our prior forecast of flat year-to-year
growth. Including Political and Olympic advertising, we expect 3.0% total industry growth for 2010. As expectations for the broader economy have improved over an extended
time-frame as well, we are increasing our long-term forecasts, and now expect growth to average 3.5% between 2010 and 2015, up from +2.3% previously.†Among the major media, Wieser says
television remains the largest advertising platform in the United States, generating $56.0 billion in total advertising revenues during 2010. “Online advertising will once again prove to be
the fastest growing medium during 2010,†he adds, “with paid search alone rising 16.8%. Local media is generally likely to perform better than we had previously forecast as
well.â€
