Strong ad growth forecast

The global advertising market will grow strongly through the rest of the year with television remaining the largest medium, new forecasts suggest.

TV will account for 39.6% of the global ad revenue total of US$523 billion, according to media agency ZenithOptimedia’s latest forecasts.

The predicted total is actually fractionally down on Zenith’s earlier forecast, with ongoing tensions in the Ukraine cited as the reason, but year-on-year growth remains strong.

While TV is still the largest advertising medium, internet and mobile advertising by far the fastest-growing categories. Zenith says online video revenues, another fast-growing category, will grow 24% this year.

There is also TV and internet crossover, Zenith reports. “Some broadcasters are starting to trade packages that include both online video and television spots; online video is also starting to be sold by programmatic buying, providing advertisers with more control and better value,” it said.

The US, Japan, China, Germany and the UK remain the largest advertising markets although between now and 2016 the top-ten rankings will change, according to Zenith forecasts. Indonesia will break into the top ten, forcing out Canada, and South Korea will rise from ninth to seventh, pushing France and Australia down one place each.

Advertising on mobile platforms will contribute the most new ad dollars between now and 2016. We forecast mobile to contribute 42% of all the extra adspend between 2013 and 2016,” Zenith noted. Television is the second largest contributor, accounting for 30% of new ad expenditure.