• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, June 14, 2013

Growth prospects for U.S. ad spending this year haven’t been all that bright, with most forecasters predicting increases in the low single-digit range on a percentage basis. 

Now, according to Pivotal Research, there won’t be any growth at all. According to a newly issued Pivotal report ad revenues will decline in the U.S. by 0.5% to $176.25 billion. Earlier, the company had pegged growth this year at 1.2%.

Advertisers will continue to shift dollars away from local media. Pivotal predicts revenues in that sector will decline 1.6% to $61.5 billion.

Newspapers will experience another sharp decline per the Pivotal report, issued today by senior research analyst Brian Wieser. Local newspaper revenue will fall by more than $1.6 billion or 9% to $16.57 billion.

Local radio revenue will also take a hit with Pivotal forecasting a 1.6% drop this year to $13.9 billion.

In national media, English-language broadcast network TV is a laggard this year with revenues expected to decline nearly 2% to $13.36 billion, per the Pivotal forecast. Cable will be up 5% to $24 billion and Spanish-language will be up more than 7% to $1.35 billion.

Digital revenue growth will continue to be robust this year, particularly in the national segment according to the report. National digital dollars are expected to climb nearly 15% to $12.9 billion. Local digital revenue will be up 7% to $4.8 billion.