Dot-coms inflate ad-spend figures

Massive publicity campaigns by dot-com companies this Christmas have hit marketing analysts by surprise.

Steven Vass, publications analyst at Zenith Media said: "We've had to revise our forecasts of overall UK advertising spend by roughly £100m." He went on to say that while part of the reason is the general economic upturn, dot.com ad spend is certainly a contributory factor.

Overall European ad spending reached a 7.1 per cent growth rate in 1998, according to Zenith Media's latest Advertising Expenditure Forecasts. This is the highest level in ten years.

"The dot-com companies have been busy establishing their brands in the build-up to Christmas," explained Vass. "They spent much more heavily in 1999 than they did in 1998."