Professional Services Industry Forecast
February 6, 2012
Industry Intelligence from First Research, a division of Hoover's (a D&B company)
First Research forecasts are based on INFORUM forecasts that are licensed from the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc. (IERF) in College Park, MD. INFORUM's "interindustry-macro" approach to modeling the economy captures the links between industries and the aggregate economy.
Professional Services Growth Crawls Up
The output of US professional services is forecast to grow at an annual compounded rate of 3 percent
between 2011 and 2016. Data Published: October 2011.
QUARTERLY INDUSTRY UPDATe
Forecast: Double-Digit Growth to Continue for Digital Advertising - Growth in US online advertising, which far outpaced growth in overall ad spending in 2011, is expected to continue. Spending on online advertising increased about 20 percent in 2011 from the year before, compared to growth of about 2 percent for overall ad spending, according to data from eMarketer reported by the Chicago Tribune. Online ad spending is predicted by some industry insiders to reach $31 billion in 2012 and grow to about $50 billion by 2015. Digital will also continue to be a larger portion of total ad spending, growing from about 20 to 28 percent during the same three year time period. Search advertising is the largest spending segment, accounting for nearly half. However, video is the fastest growing segment. As digital continues to expand, many predict the space will cease to be its own segment and will become the norm among agencies, just as radio, TV, and print advertising evolved into the norm. All advertising employees will need to become digital experts, according to industry predictions.
Architecture Services Predict Flat to Slight Growth in 2012 - US architecture firm billings increased in November 2011 compared to the previous month, marking the biggest monthly gain in about a year, but overall billings were flat in 2011. On average, firm revenue increased about 0.4 percent for the year. Many firms welcomed the flat growth, compared to losses reported in 2010. Whether the uptick in the fourth quarter 2011 can be sustained into 2012 is uncertain. A similar revenue pattern emerged in fourth quarter 2010 before sinking in early 2011. Some 42 percent of US architecture firms predict revenues will increase about 5 percent in 2012; 27 percent expect revenue to decline about 5 percent. Overall, about 2 percent revenue growth is expected among US architecture firms in 2012, according to the American Institute of Architects.