Date: 5th December 2000

TV Execs, Analysts Clash Over Ad Revenue Projections


Top TV executives have taken issue with a media analyst's prediction that spending on advertising in the U.S. will rise 5.8 percent this year, down significantly from the 6.5 percent increase that he had predicted in June.

Robert Coen, director of forecasting for Interpublic Group of Cos.' Universal McCann unit, told a UBS Warburg media conference in New York that while he saw "some softness here and there" -- particularly in retail and Internet advertising -- the media marketplace by and large was "pretty strong."

Industry executives appearing at the conference predicted substantially higher levels of ad sales than those Coen suggested. David Poltrack who heads CBS's planning and research unit, said that his company expects a 13-percent rise in ad sales this year and a 7-percent rise next year. Similar upbeat forecasts were made at the conference by Lowry Mays of Clear Channel Communications, Tom Rogers of Primedia and Sumner Redstone of CBS parent Viacom.

Source: Studio Briefing