Zenith, Merrill see spending slip in '01.(advertising spending)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Advertising Age, July, 2001 by Cardona, Mercedes M.; Wentz, Laurel

New negative forecasts from Zenith Media and Merrill Lynch & Co. challenge the optimists who say U.S. ad spending will still grow in 2001, however slowly.

The predictions late last week came two weeks after advertising's best-known U.S. forecaster, Robert J. Coen, pronounced U.S. spending will grow 2.5% this year. Mr. Coen, senior VP of Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann, last December had predicted 5.8% growth this year.

Zenith Media forecast a 2% drop in U.S. ad spending this year in its half-year forecast (AdAge.com, June 29), marking the first decline since the 1991 recession. Zenith's last published outlook, in December, anticipated 4.6% growth in spending in major U.S. media this year. Zenith, owned by Cordiant Communications Group and...

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