Report: U.K. TV ad market down

Survey expects drop over next two years

By LEO BARRACLOUGH

The U.K. television ad market is having its worst year since the dot-com crash seven years ago -- and there’s no recovery in sight, according to a report released Monday.

Media analyst ZenithOptimedia said in its market survey U.K. Television Forecasts to 2012 that it expects the market to be down for the next two years and flat thereafter.

The market will fall 6% from £3.38 billion ($5.29 billion) last year to $4.98 billion this year. Advertising for financial products is down by 20%, and ads for low-cost consumer goods are down 9%.

Next year, the market is forecast to fall an additional 3% to $4.83 billion. It then could pick up slightly, climbing to $5.07 billion by 2012, but if inflation is taken into account, growth is likely to remain at or below zero throughout this period.

The Internet ad market, however, is on course to overtake television advertising next year.

Last year, it stood at $3.74 billion and will total $4.64 billion this year, up 24%. Next year, it is expected to climb 23% more to $5.7 billion. By 2012, it should reach $9.44 billion.

Another bright spot in the ad universe is cinema advertising. Two years of wet summers have increased admissions, which has helped film advertising buck the downward trend in the old-media marketplace.

The cinema ad market has grown by 4.7% this year to $279 million from $266 million and is projected to climb to $321 million by 2012.