US adspend is ahead of expectations according to TNS Media Intelligence/CMR, which has raised its full-year predictions.

The research group is forecasting 2003 advertising revenues of $124.7 billion (€107.9bn; £74.5bn), a rise of 4.3% from the year before. This is well up on its estimates of 3.3% expansion made in January.

Spanish-language and syndicated television saw the biggest revisions to their ad outlook. The former saw its growth forecast raised from 9.2% to 16.9%; the latter from 2.5% to 9.6%.

Other sectors revised upwards include cable networks (+4.8% to +7.2%), consumer magazines (+2.7% to +5.4%), radio (+3.8% to +4.9%) and network TV (+2.7% to +2.8%). Only three categories saw growth forecasts cut: spot TV (+1.9% to +1.8%); national and local newspapers (+2.6% to +2.1%) and outdoor (+3.4% to +3.3%).

CMR found that the ad market was boosted by a quick recovery from the war in Iraq. The conflict, it continued, took a $70 million bite out of TV advertising, compared with the $313m lost after September 11 2001.

CMR’s latest predictions are not far off those of forecasting guru Robert Coen, who is now predicting 2003 growth of 4.6%. Unlike CMR, however, Coen came to this figure by revising his earlier estimates down [WAMN: 18-Jun-03].

Data sourced from: AdAge.com; additional content by WARC staff