APAC to become biggest ad market

SINGAPORE: Advertising expenditure levels in Asia Pacific will overtake the North American equivalent by 2016, according to a study.

Starcom MediaVest, the agency network, and eMarketer, the insights provider,reported that global ad revenues would increase from an estimated $539bn in 2012 to $676bn in 2016.

Within this, Asia Pacific will see totals rise from $162bn to $233bn, and log a compound annual growth rate of 9.4%. North America should record a 3.3% lift per annum, expanding in value from $179bn $205bn.

Elsewhere, Western Europe is set to yield an additional $11.3bn in revenues, reaching $132bn by the close of the forecast period. Eastern Europe is pegged to accrue an extra $8.9bn, taking $32.6bn in 2016.

Latin America was also predicted to witness an improvement from $34.6bn to $51.3bn. These figures stood at $17.8bn and $22.8bn when discussing the Middle East and Africa.

More specifically, the US is anticipated to easily remain the leading individual market, growing from $166bn to $189bn. China will claim second spot by 2016 on $74.2bn, versus a starting point of $46.3bn.