ZenithOptimedia Brightens Current Year Outlook for Web Ad Spending

ZenithOptimedia has upgraded its forecast for global Internet ad spending in 2009 as part of a revision to its overall advertising forecast.

The global media agency now believes Web ad expenditures will grow 10.1 percent this year, up slightly from the 8.6 percent growth rate it projected when it issued its last update in April. Most of that growth will come from paid search. In the U.S., spending on search media is expected to climb 20 percent in 2009, compared to just 3 percent for display media and 1.8 percent for classifieds.

Yet even the comparatively slow growth rates expected for display and classifieds are outstanding when compared to the motley crew of other media channels — all of which are expected to shrink this year. Among those media, spending on cinema, television, and out of home will decline the least, atrophying by 4.8 percent, 7.1 percent, and 7 percent respectively. They’re the only categories that will shrink at a slower rate than the market as a whole, which ZenithOptimedia now expects will fall by 8.5 percent this year (up from 6.9 percent in an April revision).

Read ZenithOptimedia’s full release.