• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, 8 hours ago

IPG Mediabrands' Magna unit has revised its 2025 outlook for global ad spending down 1.2 percentage points to a growth rate of 4.9%. The downward revision follows a similar downgrade by WPP Media less than a week ago, bringing the Big 3 holding company consensus for 2025 down to 5.2%.

Unlike Magna and WPP Media, the other Big 3 forecasting unit -- Dentsu -- historically does not release a mid-year update.

"The moderation has been fairly mild to date, with digital media showing particularly strong in the first quarter," stated Magna Executive Vice President Global Market Research Vincent Létang, adding, "We believe the marketing industry has learned from the COVID period and now understands the importance of consistent communication and balanced media strategies, especially amidst consumer uncertainty.”

Magna actually boosted its U.S. ad growth forecast for 2025 to 4.6%, three-tenths of a point higher than the 4.3% growth it was projecting in its last quarterly U.S. update in March.

Excluding the effects of political ad spending, Magna estimates U.S. ad spending will rise 6.9%, up two-tenths of a point from the 6.7% ex-political growth it was projecting in March