MERRILL MAVEN AGAIN REVISES ADSPEND FORECASTS

On Wednesday Merril Lynch's analyst Lauren Fine lowered her earlier estimates for 2003 US advertising growth, down from 3.1% to 2.8% percent. Worldwide ad spending she now divines will grow at the rate of 1.9% rather than her previous guess of 2%. Lauren's expectations are more bullish for 2004 – likely taking her cue from the prognostications of those at the ad business coalface. Nonetheless, she revised down her earlier 5.7% US ad growth prediction to 5.4%, while the worldwide estimate is reduced from 4.9% to 4.7%. Source: WARC