SMH Business Day article: With the economic jitters in the US having reached Australian shores, media analysts at Goldman Sachs JBWere have taken the razor to its growth forecasts for the Australian media industry.
"Advertising is a discretionary item," the broker argued, cutting its earnings estimates for most domestic media stocks in the face of the slowing economy.



It trimmed its advertising market growth forecasts to 7.6 per cent for this financial year and 3.2 per cent in 2009, less than half the 6.8 per cent originally forecast for next year.


The biggest losers in the downgrade were traditional media - metropolitan newspapers, radio and television broadcasters - which were facing zero growth next fiscal year, Goldman said.


And it slashed its recommendation for Network Ten to sell, despite the channel's strong start to the year with shows such as So You Think You Can Dance Australia. Expectations of higher profit margins would be undermined by the TV advertising slowdown, it said.


The deteriorating market would even affect internet companies, with growth expected to slow from more than 30 per cent to 22 per cent next year, Goldman forecast, cutting its rating for the biggest job site, Seek, to hold.