Research Center >> August 2008

B-to-B Media Spend to Reach $33B by 2012
Nearly six percent annual growth rate projected.
from AICPA Custom Media Solutions

For the five years ended 2007, B2B media spending grew to $24.8 billion — a 4.8 percent compound annual growth rate — according to the widely following Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) Communications Industry Forecast 2008–2012, which was released earlier this month.

Despite the sluggish economy, Veronis Suhler says B2B spending should grow even faster over the next five years to nearly $33 billion by 2012, for a CAGR of 5.9 percent. Experts say advertising softness today will be offset by gains in the institutional and alternative media sectors.

"While current economic conditions are contributing to the underperformance of traditional advertising and marketing segments, various institutional, consumer and alternative media segments are outperforming GDP due to businesses demanding dynamic workflow solutions for competitive global markets and brand marketers shifting to alternative media to engage hard-to-reach demographics," said Jim Rutherford, Executive Vice President and Managing Director at VSS.

As for total communications spending, the VSS forecast anticipates marketers will pony up $1.183 trillion by 2012. Total communications spending is projected to increase 5.4 percent to nearly $925 billion in 2008.