Released yesterday (Monday) by the IPA, the report shows that one in five companies have reported upward revisions for their advertising budgets, compared with 14% noting a decline. Industry areas reporting the largest increases were the IT & computing, retail, consumer services, fmcg, auto and public sectors.
The growth was prompted by new product launches, higher internet spend, strong sales revenues and rising profits, the report said.
The recent upward revisions have bolstered the strong media budgets set at the beginning of the year. In previous years, downward revisions have been made to media adspend budgets mid-year and been linked to a shift of spend away from traditional media advertising.
Jim Marshall, chairman of Starcom and the IPA Media Futures Group, attributed the rise in main media adspend to an increased confidence in the economy and more traditional forms of media.
He said: "There has been a bit of a recession over the past 18 months, but now there is a more positive outlook and more confidence in company profitability."
In line with recent forecasts by ZenithOptimedia and WPP's GroupM, Marshall predicted that TV companies could reap the benefits of increased media adspend budgets.
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