THE UK advertising market has proved far weaker than expected in 2006 but will get a much-needed boost in 2007, according to new figures from Carat, a division of the advertising group Aegis.
The research shows that, while Carat originally forecast a growth rate of 4.5 per cent in 2006, it now predicts an increase of just 3.2 per cent.
The fall has been blamed on the fact that “the boost provided by the World Cup is not expected to be as strong as anticipated”. Yet Carat predicts that the UK will be up 4.6 per cent next year, driven by an improvement in commercial television.
The research found that the Japanese advertising market is also suffering, with forecasts for this year falling from three per cent to one per cent.
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“The Japanese economy is on course for a good 2006, but advertising has yet to benefit from the upward turn,” it said.
Globally, advertising expenditure is expected to be up 5.7 per cent in 2006. One force pushing up this figure is the strength of the Chinese market. The advertising market in China is forecast to grow at a rate of 20.5 per cent in 2006.