WARC

Warc forecasts growth of 4.4%, down from an earlier prediction of 5.3% in April. And Warc cut the forecast for the U.S. from 4.1% in April to 3.6%, reflecting concerns about the job and housing markets.

Citing increasing economic uncertainty and a “reluctance from marketers to commit ad spend,” the Worldwide Advertising Research Center (WARC) today issued a “gloomier” revision to its ongoing tracking of ad industry forecasts. WARC’s new “consensus” estimate calls for worldwide ad spending to rise 4.4% this year, a downward revision of more than half a percentage point from the 5.1% rate of growth it estimated for 2011 in April.

With increasing jitters about the debt crises here and in Europe, and their impact on the world economy, another ad industry group has downgraded its prediction for global ad spending growth in 2011. London-based WARC now says global spending will climb just 3.2% versus the more optimistic 4.6% it had predicted just a few months ago.