MOBILE ADVERTISING SURGES; TV SLIPS

Spending on advertising for traditional television may have hit its peak as it begins to compete aggressively against smartphones, according to a new study that indicates that mobile advertising will account for 36 percent of ad spending over the next three years. While the study, commissioned by the media buying group ZenithOptimedia, said that the increase in spending on mobile will not come at the expense of television, it also indicated that while TV currently captures 40.2 percent of the $532-billion global ad market. that percentage is likely to fall to around 39.3 in 2016 — the first time that television’s share of global advertising has retreated in about 35 years. Nevertheless, that decline seems ever so slight, leading Jonathan Barnard, head of forecasting at ZenithOptimedia, to comment, “This is the first time in the past 20 years that a new platform is expanding overall media consumption without cannibalizing any of the other media platforms.”