China's rise challenges western media

China will overtake Japan as the world's second-largest advertising market by 2015, according to a report which predicts that advertising spending in North America will only just recover to the peak it reached in 2007 by that time.

The prediction by PwC that North America will be the slowest-growing media and entertainment market over the next five years compounds the challenge facing western media owners, which are being forced to seek new markets even as they grapple with rapid technological change in their current markets. "Twelve months ago the story was whether the recession would pick up the pace of digital transformation. It really did, and then some," said Marcel Fenez, head of the consultancy's global media and entertainment practice. PwC's annual forecast, released on Tuesday, shows that the recession hit the sector's advertising revenues hardest, and would be felt longest in the US and Canada.