Regional publishers cautiously optimistic

HONG KONG: Regional publishers have expressed cautious optimism over prospects for 2001 after CMR reported that the growth of ad revenues for Asia-Pacific was three per cent year-on-year. The sentiment is an improvement from the beginning of the year when it first emerged that the US economy appeared to be sliding into a recession. CMR reported that advertising revenue for the January to March months edged up about USdollars 1.6 million to dollars 62.4 million, compared with the same period last year. The sluggish pace of expansion is caused by the bursting of the dotcom bubble and nervousness about the American economy. Time and Fortune publisher Andrew Butcher said he was cautiously optimistic because current volatility was being offset by strong ad bookings for the second half. "The hard knock everyone was fearful of in the earlier part of the year hasn't happened and that means people are more upbeat. But overall I would have to say that trading conditions are tough and volatile." Newsweek advertising director Theresa Yeung described the sentiment of advertisers as mixed. "Advertisers are generally cautious but less pessimistic than a few months ago," Yeung said. Forbes Global was one of a handful of magazines which bucked the downtrend. The magazine, which entered the Asia market just three years ago, posted a 70 per cent rise in ad bookings for the first quarter. Forbes Asia vice-president and managing director William Adamopoulos said: "We're still regarded as a new and upcoming product in the region. "The dynamism comes from the fact that our circulation is growing strongly and this is underlined by the fact that we'll be auditing at least 54,000 in the first half." ADVERTISING REVENUE REPORT Adspend Adspend USdollars USdollars Publications Jan-Mar 01 Jan-Mar 00 % change Asian Wall Street Journal 13,475,629 12,476,458 8.0 Time Asia 9,393,394 9,311,651 0.9 Newsweek Asia 6,680,375 6,617,099 1.0 International Herald Tribune 4,798,609 4,539,897 5.7 Asiaweek 4,678,125 5,475,825 -14.6 Far Eastern Economy Review 3,832,877 3,061,299 25.2 The Economist 3,272,775 3,297,225 -0.7 Business Week 2,861,774 3,555,305 -19.5 Fortune 2,455,713 3,154,100 -22.1 Financial Times 2,021,498 2,046,386 -1.2 Readers Digest Asia 1,922,382 1,441,006 33.4 Forbes Global 980,016 577,596 69.7 Produced by CMR International.

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