The 2017 forecast is an improvement over a June estimate that 2017 spending would grow 3.1%. U.S. ad sales will face a slowdown to 1.7% growth in 2017, compared to 6.9% growth in 2016, according to the latest forecast, including the impact of political and Olympic spending. The digital spending was fueled by marketing spending outside of measured media budgets, “and not just taken away from traditional media budgets,” he said. According to Magna, digital spending is on track to surpass linear TV spending in 2017, thanks largely to a surge in mobile ad-spending. Pivotal Research Analyst Brian Wieser also has a less than optimistic view of the global ad market in 2017.

Source: Wall Street Journal December 05, 2016 05:00 UTC