As large multinational advertisers ponder the 2013 outlook, decisions about how to align their marketing budgets has become increasingly complex. The shift to online platforms and mobile media has accelerated faster than many had previously imagined.
eMarketer, in collaboration with Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG), released its annual Global Media Intelligence report -- a comprehensive assessment of media trends in major markets worldwide.
According to one of the key findings, China will become the world's second-largest advertising market in 2013, and the second-largest digital advertising market the following year -- directly behind the U.S. market.
As a result, Asia-Pacific is expected to surpass North America in total advertiser spending in 2014 -- primarily due to the growth in mobile internet usage, as well as rapid growth in digital advertising spending patterns.
Other 2012 Global Media Intelligence report findings include:
Globally, spending on advertising will rise from $538.75 billion in 2012 to $676.17 billion in 2016, as the advertising industry has proved to be somewhat resilient -- despite ongoing economic challenges in many markets.
Much of the growth is coming from Asia-Pacific, where more than 1 billion people will use the web at least once per month in 2012 -- nearly 47 percent of the global total. By 2016, this audience will number almost 1.4 billion.
Asia-Pacific will be home to some 2.15 billion mobile phone users this year. In China alone, the mobile consumer base will top 1 billion in 2014.
Asia-Pacific is currently the global leader in mobile advertising, with projected mobile ad spending of $2.56 billion this year. But North America is fast becoming the world’s leading hotspot, expanding twice as fast as Asia-Pacific. During the next four years, global spending on mobile ads will leap from $6.6 billion to $25.3 billion.
Economically, Latin America has shone brightly. But media spending in the region is small compared to more mature regions, though growing fast. Ad spending in Latin America topped $30 billion in 2011, and will reach nearly $35 billion in 2012 -- that's a rise of 12 percent.
Eastern Europe has suffered from the financial turmoil afflicting many of its neighbors to the west. The resulting slowdown has come at a bad time for the advertising sector -- and for digital advertising in particular, which arguably hasn’t yet achieved critical mass in several countries.
Media ad spending in the Middle East & Africa will reach $17.8 billion in 2012 -- that's less than one-tenth of the North American total -- and approach $23 billion in 2016. Ad spending per person in the region will remain among the very lowest in the world.
But social networking is growing faster in the MEA than anywhere else -- thanks partly to the central role played by social sites during the Arab Spring. Some 70.2 percent of the region’s internet users will use social media this year. But that group will represent just 11 percent of the MEA’s entire population.