TV is dead, long live TV! The medium may be changing but the message remains the same - global spending on small screen advertising is still rising, albeit slowly.
A report from Initiative Futures Worldwide, the research arm of media agency Initiative, says global TV spend grew from 37.7% of the world advertising pie in 2000 to a predicted 42.1% this year.
And last year TV was the second fastest growing medium. Spending rose by 12.1% to $143 billion (€108bn, £74.3bn), boosted by massive growth in China and presidential elections both in the US and Indonesia.
Says Initiative Futures managing director Sue Moseley: "We are now back to a very healthy advertising environment. Multichannel television has brought more channels so we have got fragmentation, but it means advertisers can take advantage of TV because the costs have come down."
The report says the fastest growing medium is the internet, which saw a 32.8% rise in adspend. Initiative predicts a further 20.4% growth this year to $17.2bn.
Says the report: "These massive increases reflect greater confidence in the medium now that it is more established; increased penetration and usage means that the internet is now a viable communication tool, rather than an afterthought."
The researcher also forecasts global advertising will grow by 5.8% to reach $363bn this year, exceeding the Millennium boom.
The US remains the world's largest advertising market, posting $155bn in 2004. However, the report points to China as "the star". It predicts the People's Republic will become the third largest ad economy this year (from its current fifth place) with $19bn and can expect continued double-digit growth because it is in the unique position of not being a mature market.
In Europe the UK has overtaken Germany as the largest advertising economy which this year will be worth $18bn.
Data sourced from MediaGuardian.co.uk; additional content by WARC staff
