CMR and ACNielsen figures for the first quarter show sluggish growth in
Asia's advertising expenditure.
However, it's not yet time to push the panic button. Last year, the
industry was given a major boost by dotcom advertising. Discounting the
spend by web operators, the growth figures should be a great deal higher
than those that are currently being reported.
But while advertisers and their agency partners are cautious about the
rest of the year, they are less pessimistic than in January following
news that the US economy was slowing and could slip into a recession.
