Traditional media fights back in the battle to attract advertising

Amanda Andrews, Media Business Correspondent
ZenithOptimedia, the media buying agency owned by Publicis, has upgraded its British advertising spend forecasts for 2007 and 2008 as traditional media show signs of recovery and the internet continues to boom.

In the revised figures obtained by The Times, the media buyer has predicted greater-than-expected growth in newspapers, radio and cinema.

While Zenith originally predicted 0.6 per cent growth in newspapers for 2008, that has risen to 1.1 per cent, mainly on the back of the increasing appeal of colour advertising.

“Newspaper publishers are investing more money in colour pages, which costs advertisers twice as much,” a Zenith spokesman said.

The media buyer has raised its forecast for radio in 2008 by a percentage point to 1.9 per cent. Sarah Garvie, a radio buyer at Zenith, said that radio slots on key stations were getting booked up more quickly than for a long time. “The buzz in the industry at the moment is that radio works so well with online, as you can listen to the radio while on the internet,” she said.

Cinema advertising figures have also been revised for this year and next, as people flock to the see the latest releases. More people went to the cinema in July than in any month for the past 40 years – the result of bad weather, a procession of big budget sequels, such as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and probably the lack of big sporting events.

Original predictions for cinema advertising growth was 0.6 per cent in 2007, but this has been increased to 2.5 per cent. In 2008, the growth prediction is 1.8 per cent, up from Zenith’s original 1.2 per cent.

The agency sees growth of 22.6 per cent in internet advertising, showing that the medium is still steaming ahead. There are, however, signs of a slowdown, with Zenith’s 2007 internet growth figure at 26.8 per cent, down from 47.5 per cent in 2006. Growth predictions for television are 2 per cent in 2008, as predicted by Zenith in July, up from 0.5 per cent in 2007.

News is not positive throughout the industry. Tough times for men’s magazines have caused Zenith to downgrade forecasts for the whole magazine sector. Men’s titles have suffered as readers prefer the internet over magazines. The Zenith spokesman added that there has been a drop in spend in the entertainment and food categories. Nevertheless, the agency expects growth of 0.2 per cent in magazines in 2008, thanks to a predicted revival of cosmetics and clothing advertising.

Zenith predicted 2007 to be strong for outdoor advertising, predicting a rise of 4.6 per cent in 2008. Total advertising spend growth in 2007 is thought to be 3.6 per cent and 5.3 per cent in 2008.

The spokesman said that forecasts take into account the restraining effect of high interest rates on consumer expenditure.