Researcher Slashes Ad Spending Forecast

Advertising spending likely will grow a slim 2.5% in the United States this year, its slowest increase in a decade, because of an unexpectedly steep economic slowdown, said Robert Coen, the ad industry’s most prominent spending forecaster. The estimate is less than half the 5.8% growth Coen predicted six months ago and well below last year’s 9.6% rise.

This year’s projected growth rate to $249.8 billion would be the slowest since 1991, when ad spending in the United States fell 1.2%, Coen said.

Coen said spending by dot-com advertisers has fallen more sharply than expected in part because so many of the former big spenders are no longer in business. Spending by dot-com advertisers tumbled 40% in the first quarter, he said.