China's Economy Still Rolling Forward

Government Posts GDP Growth at Nearly 9%; ZenithOptimedia Says Ad Spend in China Will Grow 5.7% This Year, 9.5% in 2010

by Normandy Madden
Published: October 28, 2009

SHANGHAI (AdAgeChina.com) -- China's government just delivered good news -- the mainland's economy is still surging forward, reassuring both advertisers and consumers that it's okay to keep spending.

China's economy grew by 8.9% in the third quarter of this year, on track to meet the government's target of 8% growth for 2009 overall. In addition, the consumer price index fell 1.1% in the first nine months, compared with the same period a year earlier.

The GDP figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics are China's best performance in over a year. China, now the world's third-largest economy, reported 7.9% growth in the second quarter and 6.1% in the first three months of 2009.

While far below the double-digit growth in gross domestic product that China enjoyed from 2003 through 2007 and during the first two quarters of 2008, China is much healthier than many of the developed world's economies this year. While not a major surprise, China's continued growth has eased government and corporate concerns over the drop in exports during the past year.

ZenithOptimedia revised forecast to 5.7%
Major media companies are also bullish about China's performance this year and n 2010. Four days before China's GDP growth figures were released, ZenithOptimedia said China's ad market will be worth $19.966 billion in 2009, up 5.7% from last year.

The figure is slightly higher than Zenith's forecast for China in April 2009, when the Publicis Groupe media agency predicted China's ad spend would be up 5.4% in 2009, way below the 18.8% growth recorded in 2008. Last year, the Chinese ad market was worth $18.895 billion, according to ZenithOptimedia.