2007 Media Economy Stronger than TNS Ad Spending Data Reports
Time Warner, Viacom, News Corp, Google, Microsoft, CBS, GE and NBCU, Disney, WPP, Omnicom, Publicis, IPG, and all public companies and investors in the media and advertising sector: this is for you. I regret acting like the petulant media economist who insists the sky is not actually falling and that the other guys got it all wrong. But it is critically vital for Wall Street, marketers and media companies to realize that 2007 advertising spending was much better than was reported last week by media researcher TNS Media Intelligence. TNS reported only 0.2% growth in ad spending for 2007 compared to 2006. In fact, incorporating TNS spending data, JackMyers Media Business Report has determined that actual ad industry growth for 2007 was 1.9 percent and could actually have been as high as 3.1 percent. While not exactly robust, actual 2007 industry performance met expectations and the doom and gloom scenario is not quite as serious as suggested by the TNS data.
