• by Wayne Friedman , December 30, 2016

Global advertising in 2016 will end the year with strong growth -- with even higher gains estimated in 2017.

London-based IHS Markit says total worldwide advertising will grow 7.1% to $532 billion due to strong media dollars for Olympics, the European Football Championship and the U.S. Presidential election.

IHS expects global advertising revenue will grow to 11% to $590 billion in 2017 -- with strong gains coming from the Middle East, Africa, and Asia-Pacific, where India and Indonesia will perform well.

In 2016, the U.S. remains the biggest market -- up 4% to $179.4 billion. China continues to gain as the second-biggest market, improving 19% to $98.9 billion. Japan is virtually flat as the third-biggest marketplace -- at $29.9 billion, inching up from $29.0 billion. The U.K. is in fourth place, up 7% to $ 24.9 billion.

Germany is next with a 2% gain to $20.1 billion, with Brazil also gaining 2% to $12.6 billion; France improving 9% to $12.5 billion; Canada with a 1% gain to $10.9 billion; Australia flat at $10.0 billion, and India soaring 20% to $9.1 billion.

The top 10 markets comprise 75% of global advertising revenue. Worldwide advertising continues to grow at a percentage of global gross domestic product -- now 0.69%, up from 0.66% in 2015.

TV remains the No. 1 medium globally for advertising revenue --  $192 billion -- 36% of global ad revenue spend. Online is nearly $160 billion -- 30% global ad revenue. Print advertising is at $101 billion (19.2%) and radio $47 billion (8.4%).  

IHS predicts that globally, online will overtake TV in five years.

The survey says four out of the five fastest-growing countries in 2016 were in Africa with growth 20% or more -- including Ghana and Kenya.