Brian Wieser: Last News

Andrew Wallenstein President and Chief Media AnalystFrom the NewFronts to the upfronts, brands are jockeying for position to claim the infusion of advertising dollars coming back into the marketplace in 2021.The rebound is being fueled by Americans shaking off the pandemic, according to Brian Wieser, global president of business intelligence at media-buying giant GroupM.“We have a lot of juiced-up demand from a lot of consumers with a lot of extra money to spend,” he said on the latest episode of Variety’s “Strictly Business” podcast.“It’s stimulus-driven in many cases, at least collectively, because we really do need to remember a lot of people are still struggling, but on average people in the economy are very, very able and willing to

Dade Hayes Finance EditorAdvertising is headed for its roughest year in more than a decade due to COVID-19, but major media agency GroupM says the decline in ad spending won’t be as bad as it could have been.In its mid-year forecast, released Tuesday, the company predicts total advertising spending without political ads will reach $207.9 billion. While that would be a decline of 13% from 2019, the drop would not be as bad as the 16% downturn in the financial crisis of 2009.“That we ‘only’ expect a 13% decline is surprising,” wrote Brian Wieser, the report’s author.

U.S. advertising spending, excluding political advertising, will drop 12.9 percent in 2020 to $207.9 billion driven by the novel coronavirus pandemic and resulting recession before swinging to a 4 percent gain in 2021 to $216.6 billion, ad giant GroupM forecast late on Monday.