• by Wayne Friedman , January 16, 2012

Worried about the European economy -- especially when it comes to advertising? Don't worry about Germany.

The Nielsen Company says the German advertising market moved up a solid 3.5% in 2011 over 2010, to a value of $32.7 billion -- stronger than many global territories.

Online advertising -- which has been performing in many markets around the world -- has been the fastest-growing segment, up 22.5% to $3.7 billion. TV advertising climbed at a much slower rate -- and the overall advertising market -- just 2% to $14 billion. A year ago, ending last January -- the German advertising market was up 10%.

All this seems to give some analysts hope that what is arguably the strongest economic country in Europe will continue on a good path, despite trouble from its EU neighbors.

Still, there might be some concern when considering the last few periods of last year in the German advertising market: December 2011 grew 2.2% versus the same period the year before. Nielsen says there is continued uncertainty for 2012.

Much hope rests with two big sports events bright spots, which always seem to draw advertisers' attention with large budgets: the London Summer Olympics and the 2012 European Soccer Championships.