• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 28, 2011

Targeted media, especially the kind being fueled by online and mobile technologies, will be the fastest growing segment of the communications industry through the next five years, according to the latest installment of Veronis Suhler Stevenson's annual Communications Industry Forecast.

The just-released forecast, the 25th edition published by the media industry private equity firm, estimates targeted media capable of serving targeted advertising messages will rise 7.1% to $199.7 billion in 2011, and will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.9% through 2015, reaching $272.5 billion.

That compares with an overall growth rate of 4.1% for the entire $1.120 trillion U.S. communications industry, which is projected to expand at a 5.5% compound annual growth rate through 2015, outpacing the expansion in U.S. GDP, and making media the eighth-fastest growing and the fourth-largest sector of the U.S. economy.

"While there are instances of declines and decelerated growth - largely in the more traditional segments of the communications industry - there is a convergence taking place in which everything digital continues to gain greater influence, scope and relative revenue mix, neutralizing the general decline of traditional media," stats John Suhler, Co-Founder, President and General Partner of VSS.

In other words, Suhler believes the transition to digital, while disruptive, has also helped traditional media sectors become more valuable and sustainable in the long run, especially as they develop enhanced abilities to target advertising to consumers.