DM> forecasts ad drop

Optimism about the advertising market at the Daily Mail's parent company has been scuppered by the terrorism attacks in the US.

The Daily Mail & General Trust is now forecasting an eight per cent drop in ad revenues over the year.

Back in June, the company had been predicting that ad revenues would rise after some disappointing months and, indeed, the Daily Mail saw a slight recovery in August with a three per cent year-on-year growth.

But the events and aftermath of September 11 have put paid to that. The group's titles all put on sales after the events, especially the Daily Mail, with the paper selling more than 250,000 extra copies the day after the terrorist attacks.

However, revenue was hit as, like the rest of the nationals, the paper pulled advertising to devote more space to covering events and major advertisers pulled their ads.

Now the group admits its revenue forecast is uncertain, with the consequences of the attacks still unclear.

DM&GT finance director Peter Williams said it was impossible to predict where the company's revenue would go from here.

"We just don't know"he said. "But the Daily Mail is very strong on the retail side. That gives us some confidence.

"As long as people keep spending in the high street, our big advertisers will keep advertising with us."

This article was first published on Media Week