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.

It should thus surpass Japan, where the pace of acceleration has been much lower than emerging Asia. The country's ad sector is due to be worth $53.4bn in 2016, measured against $47.8bn in 2012.

When considering adspend per person, North America will post $512 in 2012, with Western Europe on $292, Latin America on $58, Eastern Europe on $56, Asia Pacific on $42 and the Middle East and Africa on $13.

Data sourced from eMarketer; additional content by Warc staff