Donald Kummerfeld, president of the International Federation of the Periodical Press (FIPP), told the European Rotogravure Association annual meeting that print advertising would not lose out to electronic media and that total advertising growth would match that of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

"From 1992/93 to 2000, advertising grew faster than GDP in almost all developed countries," said Kummerfeld. "We were living in a period we could not possibly sustain and a lot of what has happened in the last two years is a balancing out."

He added that GDP forecasts were "probably the best indicator of demand".

Kummerfeld said that despite the rise of other media, publishers and their printers would not have to accept a smaller slice of the advertising market.

Prints share had "hardly changed" over the past 10-15 years, and the magazine sector had proven itself as "one of the most cost effective ways of advertising".

He used the example of Kraft Foods in the US, which had increased magazines share of its total media advertising spend by 73% in the last three years.

Kummerfeld congratulated publishers and printers for producing a "much more attractive printed product", with better design, more colour and higher printing quality.

"People love print," he concluded.

Story by Gordon Carson