Economy, Election And Olympics To Boost Ad Spending Robert Coen, senior vice president for forecasting at the Interpublic Group, expects 2005 ad spending to grow 5.9 percent globally to
$550 billion and U.S. spending to grow 6.5 percent to $280 billion.
"Compared to last December, economic expectations are much brighter," Coen told reporters. "We can have more confidence that
sustained economic expansion is in place." In December, Coen forecast 2004 ad spending would grow 5.8 percent globally and 6.9 percent in the United States as the industry rebounds from a multi-year
slump. Now, Coen expects global advertising expenditures to grow 6.0 percent this year to $519.4 billion, while U.S. ad spending would rise 7.3 percent to $263.3 billion
Last week, media
tracking firm TNS Media Intelligence/CMR said U.S. ad spending would grow 9.3 percent this year, up from a previous forecast of 7.8 percent. Top industry forecasters are growing more bullish about
2004 spending as additional money is invested in the U.S. election campaign and Olympics-related advertising.