Editorial: Media's only option is change.(Viewpoint)(Editorial)

Advertising Age, July, 2005

U.S. measured ad spending rose 4.4% in the first quarter, the smallest gain since the end of 2003, and spending for the year will increase a sluggish 3.4%, the worst since recovery began in 2002, says TNS Media Intelligence. That's bad news for media. But the numbers tell only part of the story and are not necessarily indicative of what's happening with marketing spending overall.

TNS, Universal McCann's Robert Coen and Merrill Lynch all cut their 2005 ad-spending forecasts, and one conclusion is clear: This not-so-great media ad recovery is running out of gas. The economic expansion, nearly 4 years old, is shaky. Media spending, whose decline foreshadowed the last recession, is shakier.

But ad spending estimates are becoming a less significant...

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