WARC predicts 6% adspend growth next year

Advertising spend will increase across all 19 product categories Warc monitors next year, leading to overall global growth of 6% to $656 billion. This represents an improvement over the 2.5% rise estimated for 2019 but a slowdown compared to 2018's 7.3% growth.

According to Warc, eight product categories are set to outpace the global rate in terms of increased advertising investment next year: financial services (11.8%), household & domestic (10.5%), transport & tourism (9.0%), telecoms & utilities (8.5%), technology & electronics (8.4%), alcoholic drinks (6.9%), automotive (6.8%) and soft drinks (6.5%).

The figures come from Warc's "Global Ad Trends report - product category advertising investment 2020".

Warc also noted that internet formats, combined, will account for over half of global ad investment for the first time in 2020, but added that global ad investment is flat if you don't count Facebook, Google and Amazon.

James McDonald, Managing Editor, WARC Data:

Weak macroeconomic indices, waning business confidence and rising geopolitical tensions have increased the possibility of a recession in 2020. Within this climate, our forecast of six percent growth in global advertising investment may seem optimistic, but these projections are in line with those from the IMF and Euromonitor for GDP and consumer spend, respectively.

More information is available from Warc.