Aegis-owned media buying firm, Carat, has predicted that global ad spend will fall by 5.8 percent in 2009, with investment contracting in every major market except China.
The firm did not break out predictions for digital ad revenues specifically, but a spokesperson told me the agency expects U.K. online ad spend to continue expanding throughout the downturn, growing by around 4.8 percent in 2009, and 7.7 percent in 2010.
Commenting on the overall numbers in today’s press release, Jerry Buhlmann, CEO of Aegis Media, said, “China aside, no major market will see growth this year. But we are seeing some signs for optimism in some countries in 2010. We believe that the U.K., parts of Europe and Asia will start to stabilize.”
He went on to attribute the relative resilience of the online market to the fact that clients are gravitating to “proven and accountable communications,” and focusing on ROI from their media spend.