The traditional advertising industry is not the place to be right now -- unless you have a very high tolerance for stress. eMarketer reports that the decline in overall ad spending is not only continuing, it is getting steeper on a month-to-month basis.
As an example, ZenithOptimedia revised their ad spending forecasts downward. After forecasting a 6.9 percent decline in advertising spending worldwide in April, they're now estimating a drop of 8.5 percent.
Zenith analysts predict a recovery to begin in 2010, but not in North America. Q1 spending was lower than expected and Q2 outlays continued to slide. Zenith says total worldwide spending for 2009 will be $456.5 billion, down from nearly $500 billion last year.
Few markets are growing, such as China and India. Zenith predicts ad spending in China will increase by 5.4 percent in 2009, exceeding the UK to become the world's fourth-largest ad market.
The Internet is the only medium that will enjoy spending growth this year -- rising to an estimated $56.8 billion worldwide.
The Internet share of total ad spending will grow more than 2 percent. Shares for other media will remain relatively flat -- with the exception of newspapers, where the downward spiral has accelerated.
Business magazine advertising is apparently the next sector going into a free-fall of decline. Here's an example of the ad revenue results for some leading B2B publications.
