Asia Pacific will overtake North America as the world’s biggest market for digital advertising spend for the very first time, according to figures from research and consulting company Strategy Analytics.
Spend in the region will hit US$59.7bn this year, a rise of 18.2% which will see it surpassing North American on US$59.5bn. Most of this increase is being driven by China, which follows the US as the second biggest national market, with $22.36bn in spend.
By per capita spend, the UK has the highest, with $201, just ahead of Australia on $192.
Globally, digital adspend over the course of this year is expected to grow by 12.6% to 176.7bn, accounting for 32% of all adspend. Within that figure, 52% will be search, 36% display and 11% will be classifieds.
Strategy Analytics digital media director Michael Goodman says: “Asia-Pacific’s relatively low ad spend per capita shows the tremendous potential for growth compared to the more saturated markets in the West, particularly with mobile phones removing a barrier to internet access in less developed markets. This will grow the online population dramatically and, consequently, ad spend will follow suit.”
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