The head of Publicis, the world’s fourth largest advertising group, does not expect the global advertising market to improve until the second quarter of 2010.
“In my view, we will see the end of the tunnel in the second quarter 2010. The year 2009 will be very difficult, particularly the first half,” Maurive Levy was quoted as telling afternoon newspaper Le Monde in its Thursday edition.
Levy said that the 2009 picture would be mixed with the traditional advertising spend expected to fall 5.7 percent in the United States.
In Europe, the Spanish market was seen falling by 7 percent while eastern European countries should see a rise of 7 to 8 percent, he said. Advertising spend was set to rise 8 percent in China and 6 to 7 percent in India.