Companies: WPP   

According to advertising industry sources everybody is still talking about digital — be that ‘traditional’ online, user-generated content or brands planting their promotional material on websites such as YouTube — and with Google’s advertising revenue on the verge of overtaking UK commercial television, the sector couldn’t be more buoyant.

The Bellwether Report from the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) for the third quarter of 2006 shows the first upgrade in marketing budgets for over a year. The strongest upward revisions were, of course, in internet advertising and traditional media saw budgets fall again.

The IPA’s survey noted rising business confidence but cautioned that this year ‘is set to see the weakest growth of marketing spend since 2002’. NTC Economics, which produced the report, stated that ‘a recovery in marketing spend, and in particular adspend on main media, may be stronger in the second half of 2006 than many are currently expecting. This is not altogether surprising; corporate profitability is at a 40-year high, meaning funds available to marketing departments have risen more than many companies were expecting at the start of the year.’

Sir Martin Sorrell, boss of advertising behemoth WPP, is in agreement. ‘It is good to see prospects improving as in other Western European markets like France and Germany. Direct and internet [marketing] continue their strengthening trend, driven by new technologies.’

WPP Group	LSE	£4304.03m	367.00p	-27.25p
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