Europe Ad Sales Set to Plummet

The United States isn’t the only country to be hit by the advertising decline. According to media buying agency, Carat, Europe will see a seven percent fall in advertising revenue in 2009. That’s a huge change from August, when the organization predicted spending would rise 4.8 percent year-over-year.

According to the report, Central and Eastern Europe — down 8.2 percent — will suffer more than Western Europe, which will only see a 6.6. percent drop-off.

Spain will be the individual country that’s hit the hardest, watching at spending fall more than 15 percent. The UK should lose roughly seven percent of its revenue.

One bright spot is China. The agency predicts an increase of 4.6 percent, although this is significantly down from the 11 percent growth Carat foresaw in August.

The survey predicts United States spending to drop 9.8 percent.

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.