The country's leading marketers expect to increase their media advertising budgets by just 1.7% in 2013, while media executives have forecast just 1.2%.
Starcom's latest Media Futures survey has forecast a relatively flat market, with the agency's chief executive John Sintras suggesting “marginal growth” is the “new normal”.
The sectors which will most likely see growth will be search, up 14.5%, display, up 9.4% and mobile, up 11.6%.
Newspapers, magazines and out-of-home will be the hardest hit in 2013, falling 3.2%, 2.5% and 2.9% respectively.
Of course, different categories will be better off than others. The strongest growth is expected in the automotive and government sectors, while finance and telecommunications will also see a boost. Meanwhile, the situation does not look as bright for FMCG and food advertisers.
Sintras said: “As I’ve said before, this very marginal growth is the ‘new normal’ and it’s a continuation of a trend we’ve seen for the past few years.
“We’re heading into a new Federal election cycle in 2013 and we expect this will have a positive effect, especially on FTA TV advertising.
“With Nine and Fox Sports paying a record price for NRL rights, and with the AFL being ever popular around the country, it’s no surprise that sports will be what drives TV revenue in 2013.
“Online media across all platforms continues to outperform the more established channels in terms of revenue growth. The availability and quality of performance data, allowing real-time optimisation and industry leading ROI evaluation will only see this trend continue.”
Less than a fortnight ago, a group of media agency bosses from different holding groups, includuing Mediabrands' Henry Tajer and OMD's Peter Horgan, predicted between 2% and 3% growth in the media advertising market in 2013.
Tajer said 2013 would be the industry's strongest year yet in terms of overall size.
However, it appears the country's major advertisers are less optimistic.
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