8/6/01 - Everyone knows 2001 has been a very rough year in terms of ad spending. However, here's something you may not have known. According to Competitive Media Reporting (CMR), despite declines in ad spending, 2001 in some ways is shaping up to be much better than previously reported. CMR predicts that 2001 will see ad growth of 11.2% as compared to 1999. The year 2000 was an aberrant year, due in large part to the dotcom phenom, a presidential election, the Olympics, and the celebration of the bicentennial - none of which will be back in 2001. If you remove the year 2000, the ad market of 2001 is more similar to that of 1999 because both years were without any "major" events. CMR predicts that overall ad spending, which includes b2b, will decline by 2% for 2001, but ad spending, overall, will hit $102.4 billion compared to $92.1 billion in 1999. Ad spending in 2000 rose 13.5 percent to $104.5 billion as reported in medialifemagazine.com. American Business Media predicts b2b expenditures will be down from 7-9% in 2001 vs. 2000. CMR expects an overall ad recovery to take place in 2002. In fact, Veronis, Suhler & Associates' annual Communications Industry Forecast predicts that ad growth will also pick up in 2002, with a 6.9% increase in spending across all media to $187 billion. American Business Media anticipates the uptick to begin in the second quarter of 2002. If these and other predictions are correct, the 2002 ad growth will be a welcome relief for everyone.