SEE ALSO: Earnings: WPP Revenue Falls Faster Than Expected; Recovery Still Due Next Year

Western Europe annual ad spend will be down 11.1 percent for 2009, but a “mild recovery” in 2010 will turn the decline to just 3.5 percent, WPP’s Group M forecasts - consistent with earlier predictions by CEO Martin Sorrell but more optimistic than last week’s PwC report.

The company says the European decline is the most pronounced in the world - North America will be down 4.2 percent this year and 6.1 percent in 2010, worldwide spend down 5.5 percent this year and 1.4 percent next.

“Despite broadband saturation and advertising cutbacks in many developed economies, digital media continued to display growth, rising from 10 percent of global ad investment in 2007 to a predicted 15 percent in 2010,” GroupM’s forecast says.