The final forecast, which will be officially unveiled next month in New York, shows Asia is back on a fast recovery track, after being seriously affected by Sars and the Iraq war earlier in the year. Optimedia Hong Kong chief executive officer Andras Vigh said that the main driver of growth would be China.
"China is the most important market globally and this is underlined by the fact that our operations in the country have grown from about 100 people just a few years ago to more than 300 now.
"There are more multinationals entering the market. Also, more local companies are starting to realise the importance of branding as a means of competing not only in China, but as they attempt to export their brands to foreign markets," Vigh said.
ZenithOptimedia Europe CEO Steve King said that China and, to some extent, India would be the main battlegrounds for brands seeking growth, but unlike markets such as France, Germany and the US, the rules of engagement are different, because of the sheer scale and regionalities of the two nations.
He added: "The speed of recovery shows the resilience of the region, because the pace of ad expenditure expansion is higher when compared with global figures. The US, by comparison, is only just now showing a recovery from 9/11.
"Looking at the figures we have now, it seems that Sars and the Gulf conflict never happened."
He added that Asia has a number of positive factors benefiting it, while the West is struggling with a range of negative issues. "A lot of companies are outsourcing manu- facturing and services to Asia," King said. But he stressed that there is now a general air optimism around the world, in line with economic improvements in the major global markets.