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War in Iraq: helped create gloom

A depressed UK economy, the war in Iraq and the overseas outbreak of the SARS virus helped create an atmosphere of gloom which contributed to a 1.5% drop in first quarter advertising in real terms compared with last year, according to research by the advertising association and the World Advertising Research Centre.

Ad spend in the UK totalled £3.4bn in the first quarter of 2003, up 1.5% year on year, but was down the same amount after inflation was taken into account.

Every media sector, except outdoor and direct mail, which saw real growth of 13.3% and 1.4% respectively, saw a fall in expenditure.

National newspapers and business magazines fared badly, dropping 5.3% to £494m and 6.1% to £225m respectively. The regional press was hit by a 2.4% fall in revenues.

Consumer and business magazine adspend fell by 5.1% and 6.1% respectively. Display advertising fared worse than classified, falling 5.9% and two per cent respectively.

Broadcast media dropped 1.3% in television and one per cent less on radio.

However, the figures were always likely to play poorly, given that last year's numbers were boosted by the World Cup over the same period.

The figures come after this month's research from Nielsen Media Research which showed that during the 12 months to April this year, UK media spend rose by nearly four per cent overall, suggesting that the advertising market may struggle to maintain growth.