Advertising revenue in metropolitan Australia could fall by 2 percent, according to predictions from media buyers, The Australian reported.

Earlier estimates from buyers were that ad markets would see growth of 4 to 5 percent; however, buyers currently believe the advertising market in Sydney fell by up to 2 percent in the first half of 2008, due to pessimism about the economy, the article stated.

Advertising in the first quarter of the year has been strong, but became soft in April, which continued through June, said Peter Horgan, OMD managing partner and head of trading for rate negotiation group OMG, according to The Australian. Horgan said the market is predicted to go as low as -2 percent.

Newspapers, magazines and radio are all expected to grow by about 3 percent, while the Internet is expected to grow by 23 percent, and television at 20 percent.

“ That is still overall growth of 6.2 per cent (for the total advertising industry), but that is heavily skewed by the internet,” Horgan told The Australian. “Growth in traditional media is about 2.8 percent – in real terms, that's going backwards (taking inflation into account).”