Bad news from Germany

Advertising The German advertising industry was able to halve its loss rate in 2003, but the signs of an upturn remain meagre. This is the sobering industry balance presented by the Central Association of the German Advertising Industry (ZAW). Net advertising sales excluding trade fairs and exhibitions (advertising placement costs) fell by 4.3 percent to 19.28 billion euros. In 2003, the proportion of GDP invested in advertising fell to 1.36 percent - the same level as in 1978. According to ZAW President Hans-Hennig Wiegmann, a sustained upturn in the advertising industry is not possible for the current year under these conditions. Wemf will publish the Swiss advertising statistics next month. In 2002, net advertising sales accounted for 1.48 percent of the GDP of around 349 billion Swiss francs. Even if per capita advertising expenditure in Switzerland has fallen slightly, it still remains significantly higher than in Germany.
(la)