TV adspend in Europe will have to wait until 2008 for full recovery

by Jennifer Whitehead, Brand Republic 14-Feb-06, 13:30

LONDON - Spending on television advertising in Europe is not likely to return to pre-dotcom bust levels until 2008, according to the media agency ZenithOptimedia.

The Publicis Groupe-owned agency declared today that the trend for television advertising will be to outpace the overall advertising market, as the internet takes off and with the emergence of new television channels offering cheaper prices.

ZenithOptimedia is forecasting only a 2.2% rise in real growth in the Western European advertising market for 2006, partly stimulated by the World Cup in Germany this summer. It reported growth in TV advertising for the region of only 0.3% in real terms last year.

Looking at the longer-term trend, it said that TV ad expenditure had shrunk by 10.3% between 2000 and 2003, and over the next 10 years, it does not see TV increasing its share of the overall ad market from the 32% recorded in 2004.

On the bright side for media owners, if not the media agencies, revenues for pay television are on the rise, and overtook ad expenditure for the first time in 2005, worth $31.4bn, compared with the $30.8bn spent on television advertising. ZenithOptimedia estimates that pay-TV revenues will account for 57% of commercial revenues by 2014.

The findings have been published in Television in Western Europe to 2014, which is available from ZenithOptimedia for £335.

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