The rise in direct marketing spend compares with a forecast 1.1% rise in above-the-line spending.
The UK will lead the way in a small recovery in European advertising spend, which is set to rise 1.7% to €150bn this year, according to Ad Barometer, a study of seven European markets conducted by OMD France and Hachette Filipacchi's ad sales house Interdeco.
Adspend in the UK is set to rise 2.3%, with France next with a 1.6% rise in advertising spend.
The report said that any recovery in these markets would be slow to get going.
"Advertisers should increase their promotional spending by 1.7% from 2002, but this is a rate slightly below economic growth of 3% in current value," the report said.
Last year, the drop in adspend did show signs of slowing. Spending on non-media or below-the-line advertising fell just 0.1% in Europe, while above-the-line dropped 2.2%.
Ad revenues were €148m in 2002 in the markets surveyed, down 1% on 2001 revenues. This compares with a 6.2% drop in ad revenues between 2000 and 2001.
Ad Barometer measures adspend across Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Poland and Sweden. It is a joint venture between Omnicom media buying agency OMD France and Hachette Filipacchi's advertising sales house Interdeco. It is published twice a year.
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