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Ad Spend to Grow 6.7% in '08, Internet to Overtake Radio in '08 & Mags in '10 »
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Ad Spend to Grow 6.7% in '08, Internet to Overtake Radio in '08 & Mags in '10

Ad spending worldwide will near $486 billion in 2008, or 6.7% more than in 2007, while ad spend in North America will total $195 billion, up 4.1%, according to a ZenithOptimedia forecast, writes AdAge. Meanwhile, internet advertising is poised to reach three major milestones in the next three years, according to the forecast.

Internet ad spending is projected to grow to $44.6 billion from some $36 billion, or a gain of 29.9% (compared with the projection, this summer, of 28.6%). Moreover, internet’s share of ad spend is projected to increase from 8.1% to 9.4% in  ‘08.

“We predict internet advertising to pass three milestones over the next three years,” ZenithOptimedia is quoted as forecasting. “We expect it to overtake radio advertising in 2008; to attain a double-digit share of global advertising in 2009; and to overtake magazine advertising in 2010, with 11.5% of total ad spend.”

US ad spending is projected to grow at just 2.5% in 2007, short of the 3.7% ZenithOptimedia projected earlier - and less than the annual inflation rate of 3.6% for the first 10 months of the year.

Moreover, the modest 6.7% global growth forecast is for a year in which the Olympics, a US presidential election and a European soccer championship will take place.

Though TV retains the largest piece of the ad spend pie, it is projected to merely maintain its share, accounting for 37.9% in 2008 - all but unchanged from 37.7% in 2007. Outdoor’s share is expected to account for 5.7% in 2008, up slightly from 5.6%, and cinema is expected to go up to 0.5% from 0.4%.

The 10 fastest-growing ad market from now till 2010 will be Kazakhstan, followed by Belarus, Serbia, Egypt, Russia, Moldova, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Ukraine, according to ZenithOptimedia.