The bank pointed to spending by record companies as one sign that things were improving. Earlier this month, record company Universal Music said it plans to spend £12m on TV promoting artists, including S Club 7, in the weeks before Chrismas. According to ABN research, other advertisers are thinking along the same lines.
However, media buyers remain pessimistic that ITV, which has been hit hardest by the advertising slump, will be able to improve much on earlier forecasts.
Media buyers predict ITV advertising will be down 15% year-on-year and December's figures are expected to be down 10% on last time.
This is a more optimistic figure than that set by investment bank Merrill Lynch, which upgraded its estimates for ITV earlier this month from a 25% fall in December to an 18% drop year-on-year.
Media buyers expect the broadcaster, controlled by Granada and Carlton, to record as much as a 10% decline in the first quarter of 2002, and for 2002 to be flat at best.
ITV is expected to underperform the overall TV advertising market by around five percentage points.
Shares in Carlton climbed 3.18% to 259.5p while Granada was down 0.49% to 153.75p.
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