European broadcasters say ad spending improving

Three of Europe's top commercial broadcasters said on Tuesday they saw signs TV advertising sales were improving, but they remained cautious on the outlook for the year and beyond. Italy's biggest private broadcaster Mediaset SpA said advertising sales in November and December would show an improving trend while France's TF1 said TV ad spending improved in retail, food and cosmetics in the third quarter, and it raised its 2009 sales goal. Meanwhile Europe's biggest commercial broadcaster RTL Group said it saw improved TV advertisement bookings but had no visibility for the rest of the year. A growing list of media companies are saying the worst may be over for the battered advertising industry, although they have yet to see signs of a sustained recovery in corporate ad spending.