AdAge sees prospects for a tepid advertising recovery in recent announcements of Google profits and spending plans by the Gap, plus the performance of the Dow. “(T)here’s an almost tangible hope that the advertising and media sectors are no longer treading water, but crawling gingerly onto muddy shores,” the magazine says.
And, “Now, today comes a report from ZenithOptimedia that global ad spending should increase 0.5 percent in 2010. Meager, yes, but after so much sputtering of ad spending and cost cutting at media companies, that tiny blip is being taken as cause for relief. … Meanwhile, ad buyers are reporting that TV ’scatter’ advertising, or ad inventory bought close to air time, is more robust.”
But — of course there’s a but — “there’s a palpable sense that things could come crashing down anew. Some analysts believe the stock market has gotten ahead of itself and that many seemingly robust earnings from companies are largely the result of comparisons to worse earlier quarters or cost-cutting rather than from business flowing strongly once again.
“So while no one is ready to hold a party, there’s a growing sense that ad spending is haltingly stabilizing — or at least sucking less than before.”
Tags: projections