UK pub MarketingWeek reports that Carat, the media agency network under the Aegis fold, is downgrading its global ad spend growth forecasts for 2009 to a fall of 9.8%. The UK is expected to fare even worse with an 11.7% drop. The only ad discipline to see growth is, natch, online which Carat says will reach 10% of global ad spend this year.But like Sir Martin Sorrell (or “Napoleon to the NY Post) mentioned at the World Economic Forum in September, there is an upside in China.
Aegis CEO Jerry Buhlmann tells MarketingWeek: “China remains the most resilient of the major economies, and we have revised our cautious estimate upwards since March to 6.9% for 2009. However, even in China, we have noticed advertisers proceeding cautiously, and adjusting spend on a quarterly basis.”