If inflation is taken into account, ad spend will be virtually flat year-on-year – up just 0.1%. Better things are forecast for 2014, though, with growth after inflation expected to be 1.7%.

Of the 12 markets tracked by Warc, only the UK and Japan have had their ad spend forecasts increased since the company’s April report. The biggest single downgrade comes for Italy, now expected to see a drop of -12.9%.

The BRIC countries are expected to show the biggest increases in ad spend in 2013, led by Russia on 11.5%. However, these four countries are also expected to record high rates of inflation, leading to a significantly lower growth outlook in real terms. On this measure, India is set to record a year-on-year decline in spend of -3.2%.