* 2010 ad forecast raised to 2.2 pct from 0.9 pct growth
* Developed markets seen returning to growth next year
* Internet share of ad spend to rise to 17 pct in 2012
(Adds details on regions, media, future years)
By Georgina Prodhan
LONDON, April 7 (Reuters) - Leading media buyer ZenithOptimedia raised its 2010 global advertising growth forecast to 2.2 percent, saying the economic downturn was coming to an end faster than expected in mature markets.
The agency, part of the Publicis group PUBP.PA, had last said in December it expected 0.9 percent growth this year. The upgrade was the second in recent months, and was helped by accelerating ad expenditure in developing markets.
“Confidence in the global economic recovery, while tentative, continues to grow, and this improvement has been apparent in ad markets across the world,” ZenithOptimedia said in a statement.
Advertising spending is closely related to economic confidence, and leading brand owners such as Jim Beam maker Fortune Brands FO.N and Kimberly-Clark KMB.N have already said they will significantly raise marketing spending this year.
ZenithOptimedia said it saw global ad spending growing by 4.1 percent in 2011 and 5.3 percent in 2012, from a 2010 total of $456 billion. It saw developed markets -- which account for most ad spending worldwide -- returning to growth of 1.8 percent next year, after a 0.8 percent decline this year and a 12.1 percent drop in 2009.
It said surprising pockets of strength included UK TV, which should grow at least 16 percent this quarter after shrinking since 2005, and Spanish TV, which has survived the removal of ads from public channels with little or no spending cuts.
In Central and Eastern Europe, where advertising expenditure fell 23.1 percent last year as investors feared for the region’s long-term prospects, ad spend should rise 5.7 percent this year and 8.5 percent in 2011, the agency said.
Elsewhere in the developing world, ZenithOptimedia forecast 10 percent ad spend growth in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, 9.3 percent growth in Latin America and 4.7 percent in the Middle East for this year.
Internet ad spending, the biggest medium after TV and newspapers, should increase its share to 17.1 percent in 2012 from 12.6 percent in 2009, the agency said, adding that the downturn had likely sped up a shift from traditional media.
Television suffered less than other media during the downturn, with ad spend down 6.7 percent in 2009, because television viewing rises in a recession due to its cheap and absorbing nature, ZenithOptimedia said.
It forecast that TV’s share of the global ad market would rise to 40.6 percent in 2012 from 39.4 percent in 2009, thanks to its dominance in developing markets.
The agency also forecast that newspapers’ share of global ad expenditure would fall to 19.4 percent by 2012 from 23.1 percent in 2009 and magazines would fall to 8.6 percent from 11.6 percent, as readers move to newer, digital media. (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Jon Loades-Carter)