Direct mail expenditures will grow by about 4% to top $41 billion in 1999, predicted Robert J. Coen, senior vice president and director of forecasting for McCann-Erickson Worldwide. Total advertising revenue in 1999 and 2000 will grow more than 6%.
In his midyear update on advertising, Coen noted that direct mail rose by 3.5% in the first quarter of 1999, and predicted modest growth this year because of the postage rate increase in January.
Overall direct response advertising rose a total of 37% in such media as national networks (260%), spot TV (98%) and magazines (2%).
Coen does not yet track Internet advertising.
Total advertising expenditures in 1998 came to more than $201 billion, a rise of 7.5%. Coen anticipated 6.1% growth over 1998 to $213 billion, despite a slow start in 1999.
His early prediction for 2000 called for a jump of 7.5% for U.S. advertising spending, to $230 billion, spurred on by the new millennium, the presidential election and the Olympics.
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