Sir Martin has been talking of 2004 for almost two years now as the start of a possible ad recovery, when the industry is likely to benefit from the positive impact of quadrennial factors such as the US presidential election, the Athens Olympics and the European Football Championship.
Speaking in February as WPP presented its preliminary results, Sir Martin said that thanks to the war in Iraq, "2003 will likely be another difficult year, with hopes for a more significant recovery being pinned on 2004".
However, speaking yesterday at the World Newspaper Congress, Sir Martin told an audience of 1,200 CEOs, publishers and senior newspaper managers in Dublin that although 2004 would be a "better year", it would not match the good times of the late 1990s.
"If you're waiting for a boom year, stand by for 2008," he said. "In the short term, we probably see the industry continuing to grow at low growth rates."
In 2008, the multibillion-dollar Chinese construction boom associated with Beijing's hosting of the 2008 Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo would give the world economy a significant boost, Sir Martin said.
Speaking at the congress, organised by the World Association of Newspapers, the WPP chief claimed his fears that the war in Iraq would blow a hole in WPP's £18bn annual global billings had proved largely unfounded.
"The second Gulf War had really minimal impact on our business. I think we were a little bit surprised that we didn't see more impact," he said.
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