Global advertising spending will suffer as economic uncertainty undermines consumer confidence, according to ZenithOptimedia, which slashed its growth forecasts for 2008 and 2009.

The media buyer owned by France's Publicis (NYSE: PUB - News) predicted global advertising growth would rise at 4.3 per cent in 2008, down from an earlier projection of 6.6 per cent made in June. Global advertising spending in 2009 is expected to grow 4 per cent from an earlier forecast of 6 per cent.

Advertising spend in western Europe is expected to rise 1.6 per cent this year and 2.6 per cent in 2009, down from earlier projections of 3.7 per cent and 4.3 per cent.

US advertising spending growth projections of 0.7 per cent next year will drag down fast-growing regions led by central and eastern Europe.

Barclays Capital forecast US advertising spending would fall 3.6 per cent to $284.3bn in 2008 and fall another 5.5 per cent in 2009.