Cautious optimism for 2010 from Econometrix

Whilst South African consumers are still heavily indebted, there are signs of small relief he said. He explained that retail sales have improved only slightly, but in contrast, the manufacturing sector is growing in leaps and bounds, benefited mostly by the export market. The South African consumer, for now, remains in a tough environment, pressured with his and her debt contributions.

For advertisers and marketers Dr Jammine provided share of adspend in 2009 vs January 2010. Whilst the decline in spend tracks the overall economic activity there are some shifts in adshare. The Internet is a winner in the pie, increasing to 8.6% in January 2010 from 6.4% in the same period in 2009.

'Upswing in line with Roots 2010 findings

"The upswing in this medium is in line with our most recent Roots 2010 findings," says John Bowles, joint MD of NAB. "Although community press have held their position, there are signs that weekly Internet usage has increased since the last Roots survey in 2006 (15% to 23% per household decision-maker)."

In general, the majority of media categories remained stable as shown by Dr Jammine's charts - TV increased its share from 42.6% in 2009 to 43.8% in January 2010; with print declining from 36.7% in 2009 to 33.4% in 2010 (mostly from the daily and weekend print contenders).

"These regular forums are invaluable to our clients and media owner partners," says Chris Botha, joint MD the MediaShop Sandton. "It's great to have speakers like this present independent views on the political, economic and media landscapes for the year ahead."

Copies of the presentation are available from The MediaShop by telephoning +27 (0) 11 258 4000.