Economics
Near-Perfect Economic Growth Measure Breaks Down in Digital Age
- Key advertisers cutting back on marketing and ad spends
- Dentsu Aegis’s Buhlmann finds new proxy to measure growth
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Advertising spending’s almost-perfect record in tracking global growth could be shattered as big ad agencies are challenged by a changing industry landscape, according to global marketing firm Dentsu Aegis Network Ltd.
Global ad spending has been a strong coincident indicator of world GDP growth, with a 0.89 correlation from 2001-17, according to Dentsu Aegis data. For the past six quarters, though, Chief Executive Officer Jerry Buhlmann is seeing demand among the bigger players in North America slide, even as U.S. growth remains on a solid path.