GroupM forecasts global media growth

Global - GroupM expects global media investment to rise by 6.8% to US$479 billion (S$676.25 billion) as reflected in its recent media and marketing forecast for 2008.

Advertising spend would get a thrust from the Beijing Olympics, European soccer championships and the US Presidential elections but the outlook remains conservative for North America, Western Europe and Japan. However in the emerging economies which make up 25% of the global ad economy, it is predicted they will bring in more than 50% of new advertising dollars.

TV is likely to still dominate advertising, especially in emerging economies. With 74% of media investment growth in North Asia (China, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan) attributed to TV. The region will be contributing to 23% of new media dollars with 21% contributed by China.

Measured internet spend is likely make up 10% of global media investment, contributing to the growth by 28%, occupying 25% of new advertising investment. This will be seen in the developed world especially in western Europe. It can also be seen that in Sweden, Denmark and UK, measured internet revenue will be similar or more than TV. Search is predicted to be the fastest growing and largest component of internet spend at an estimated figure of 60% globally.

Interesting thing to note is that in SE Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand), media growth contributions for television is expected to increase as will outdoor and radio. For newspapers however it is seen to possibly fall to close to its 2003 figures.

The findings were drawn from WPP's worldwide resources in advertising, public relations, market research, and specialist communications.

For more details on the report look out for the March issue of Marketing.