• by Sara Guaglione , May 28, 2020

Print newspaper and magazine global ad spend is predicted to fall around 20% this year, according to the WARC Global Advertising Trends reportreleased today.

Print newspaper ad spend is forecast to fall by $7.6 billion, or 19.5%, in 2020, compared to the pre-COVID-19 outbreak forecast of -5.9%.

Print magazines have also been heavily impacted by reduced circulation. 

The WARC Global Advertising Trends report predicts print magazine ad spend will fall by over one-fifth (21.5%), or $3.4 billion, in 2020.

WARC Global Advertising Trends estimates there will be a $49.6 billion global ad spend pullback to $563 billion this year, due to “severe” cuts in media investment from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Traditional media (which includes cinema, out-of-home, print, radio and TV) will fare worse than online media, according to the report.

Global advertising spend in traditional media could fall by $51.4 billion (-16.3%) this year.

Of that category, cinemas are expected to be hit the hardest, with ad spend falling 31.6%.

Online advertising will nearly grind to a halt, with +0.6% growth at a global level this year.

A recovery is forecast for 2021, at +4.9%.

However, it isn’t all bad news. WARC predicts the global decline in 2020 will not be as severe as that recorded in 2009, when the ad market contracted by 12.7%, or $60.5 billion. 

In the U.S., this is, in part, due to record-high spending during the U.S. presidential campaigns, which will stymie the ad market decline to -3.5% in 2020.

"In the U.S., the spending cuts from most industry verticals will be mitigated by the incremental political spend in this presidential election year,” stated Vincent Letang, executive vice president of global market intelligence at MAGNA Global.