Big Agency Forecasters Downgrade 2019, Project Stronger Spending In 2020

The global advertising marketplace will expand 4.4% in 2020, according to a consensus of two leading ad agency forecasts. But the outlook for 2019 has been revised downward to a growth rate of about 3.5%.

GroupM today revised its worldwide media-spending forecast for 2019 down to a growth rate of 3.4% vs. the 3.6% rate it previously projected in December 2018.

On Wednesday, Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) revised its 2019 global ad-growth projection down to 3.6% from the 3.8% growth rate it projected in January.

While DAN also revised its 2020 outlook down two-tenths of a point to +4.1%, GroupM revised its 2020 outlook up three-tenths to a 4.7%, making the two agency consensus about +4.4% for 2020.

“While the economic foundations supporting the advertising industry are somewhat fragile at this time, growth trends are holding up for now,” GroupM Global President of Business Intelligence Brian Wieser wrote in a blog post announcing the revision. 

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Adding in political advertising in the United States, Wieser estimated the total global growth will be "more like +6.0%," noting: "Globally, the U.S. is a key driver of the industry’s ongoing expansion, but so too are China, Brazil, India and the U.K. Digital advertising continues to be the largest growth medium across markets."

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