Automotive, retail and travel account for half of 2020 adspend decline

An overview of forecast global advertising investment by product category in 2020 and 2021.

The automotive category will see the largest absolute decline in advertising spend this year, investing $11.0bn less than in 2019, according to the latest WARC Data forecasts based on data from 19 product categories and 100 markets worldwide.

Retail follows close behind, spending $10.5bn less this year. Transport & tourism reports the biggest proportional fall in advertising spend, down 33.8% equivalent to a loss of $8.4bn.

Taken together, these three categories alone account for nearly one-half of 2020's total decline in investment.

Total advertising spend is expected to fall by 10.2% to $557.3bn this year, with it taking...

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