It's kind of relieving to read an industry report label 2020 as more of a mild setback for the media business rather than an industry-changing economic catastrophe.. Despite the grim realities of a global economy that will be the worst since the Great Depression, advertising weathered the storm relatively well and will end up at declining by “only” 5.8% on an underlying basis (excluding-U.S. political advertising). Even though it's a sharp fall from 2019’s 8.7% growth rate, it didn't meet the earlier forecasted decline of 11.9%.