Publishing its 2007 figures last week, Trinity Mirror warned of continued volatility in the press advertising market in 2008, announcing that it expects its ad revenue in January and February to have been 3% lower than in the first two months of 2007.
Its warning followed Daily Mail and General Trust's announcement last month that its January ad revenues were down year on year.
In reaction, Morgan Stanley said that January ad revenue was 1% lower than January 2007, while February was down 5% year on year. The broker warned that over the rest of 2008 it expects a weaker press advertising market, particularly among the nationals.
Numis Securities said it expects volatility in the press ad market to continue for most of this year and lowered its full-year 2008 forecast from -2% to -3%.
However, press buyers, for the most part, are painting a less gloomy picture for press ad spend.
Alan Brydon, head of press at MPG, said: "All the forecasts are bad, but the agencies are saying we had a good 2007 and things seem to be going well this year."
Paul Thomas, press director at MindShare, is also positive, but warned that if retailers' marketing spend starts to recede due to the credit crunch, newspapers could suffer a knock-on effect.
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