WPP reported preliminary 2008 financial results this past Friday, with PR and public affairs cited as "the fastest growing communications services sector on a like-for-like basis." Specifically, PR and public affairs experienced a 6.9% revenue growth and now account for 11.4% of total operating profit. The report also stated: "Overall reported margins for this sector remained flat at 16.6%."

Not surprisingly, new media is referenced as having "demonstrated the power of editorial publicity through fast-growing new applications such as MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia..." Looking ahead to the rest of 2009, the company predicts a revenue decline of 2% on a like-for-like basis. [image: WPP CEO Sir Martin Sorrell]