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Global mid-Year Forecast Report

Benchmarks

Advertising Growth Forecast

During 2020, we estimate that the global advertising economy
will fall by 11.8%, excluding the effects of increased political
advertising in the U.S. This is a sharp decline from the growth
rate from 2019 of 6.2% and returns the industry to slightly
higher than 2017 levels in constant currency terms.

To describe 2020 as a disruptive year around the world would be
an understatement. The spread of COVID-19 turned into a pandemic, leading to widespread global actions to restrict social and economic activity in an effort to limit the virus’ death toll. Governments also implemented massive stimulus programs while companies and other organizations that
could continue to operate found new ways to do so.
Despite those efforts, economies around the world are expected to
be very weak this year, with declines in output typically expected
to outpace what was observed during the global financial crisis.