REPORT: MEDIA-CNBC Asian advertising industry poll - Happy days are here again as region readies for better times ahead

Everything is relative, as the saying goes, but the good news is that 92 per cent of respondents in the latest MEDIA-CNBC Asian Advertising Industry Poll believe that the year 2000 is looking better than 1999. Of course, last year saw some of the biggest ructions and lay-offs the advertising and marketing industries have experienced in Asia, coming as the long-term effects of the recession which began to bite in late '97. The general mood is one of cautious optimism, tinged with resignation - in other words, few believe that things could get much worse. Nonetheless, a proportion of respondents from Hong Kong (two per cent) and the Philippines (17 per cent) did, however, forecast that the next 12 months were likely to bring even worse hardships. In terms of growth, 80 per cent of respondents were confident that clients' business would increase, with the majority (56 per cent) tagging this at a rate of between 10-20 per cent. Across the region, creatives and agency media were the least bullish when asked how much they anticipated their existing business to increase this year, with 20 per cent in each of these two sectors forecasting no growth whatsoever. China was seen as the market with the greatest promise for growth in 2000, with 32 per cent of respondents anticipating that the mainland would have the fastest growth in the region. Eleven per cent pinned their hopes on Hong Kong, followed by Indonesia (10 per cent) and Korea (six per cent). In terms of category growth, it came as no surprise that 56 per cent said that information technology and related areas would boom, with banking/finance trailing a distant second, taking just 20 per cent of the vote. With the boom in new media and the way in which clients sought alternative advertising media during the slump of the last two years, questions of how media owners could attract clients have arisen. Nearly 50 per cent of respondents, interestingly enough, said they were looking for innovative ideas and packages which could add value to an otherwise straightforward media buy. Just 12.6 per cent cited discounts as the way to go. How the MEDIA-CNBC Asian Advertising Industry Poll was conducted ... The MEDIA-CNBC Asian Advertising Industry Poll was conducted on behalf of MEDIA and CNBC by Asia Market Intelligence via the Internet. Select respondents were contacted by email and asked to participate. Main results will be featured every month in MEDIA, as well as on Storyboard, CNBC's weekly programme covering advertising, media and marketing.

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