Media agency cuts world advertising spend forecasts

Media forecasting agency ZenithOptimedia cut its world advertising spend forecast for 2013 for the second time on Tuesday, blaming recession in the euro zone and heightened security concerns in South Korea.

ZenithOptimedia, the forecasting unit of Publicis Groupe, the world's third-biggest advertising group by sales after WPP and Omnicom, said in a report world advertising spend would grow 3.5 percent this year.

It had in December predicted a rise of 4.1 percent, which it then cut to 3.9 percent in April.

The North Korean threat of nuclear and missile strikes against its neighbors has made advertisers in South Korea more cautious, the report said.

This, coupled with a slowdown in exports caused by strength in the South Korean won against the Japanese yen, will lead to a 6.5 percent decline in ad spend in South Korea in 2013.

In the euro zone, a three-month period in which Italy had no government and controversy surrounded Cyprus's bank bailout, led to a 3.7 percentage point downgrade in advertising spend forecasts since April.

Expenditure in the euro zone should however stabilize in 2014, before staging a mild recovery in 2015.Read more http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/18/us-advertising-spending-forecast-idUSBRE95H05V20130618

and http://www.worldscreen.com/articles/display/2013-06-18-zenithoptimedia-ad-forecasts