Entertainment, wireless to drive US advertising

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Entertainment companies and cell phone providers will drive spending in the U.S. advertising market in 2007, while automobile spending may slow down, a top advertising executive said on Tuesday.

"Telecommunications will continue to be very strong, particularly the wireless aspect," Charles Courtier, global Chief Executive of media agency Mediaedge:cia, told the Reuters Media Summit in New York. "I think it's going to continue to go like a train."

Courtier said globally the big growth is predominantly in Asia, driven by China and India and Korea. "I think Europe looks pretty flat ... and I don't see huge growth in the U.S. either."

Courtier took a dimmer view of spending by U.S. automakers as they struggle to overhaul their businesses amid fierce competition from overseas.

"I think something eventually has to give there," he said. "I would predict probably a slowdown in spend in cars in general, particularly in North America."

Mediaedge:cia, a unit of media and advertising firm WPP Group Plc (WPP.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), counts among its clients Cingular Wireless, a venture of AT&T Inc. (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and BellSouth Corp. BLS.N and the nation's largest mobile phone provider, as well as Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc. (VIA.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Ford Motor Co. (F.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).