• by Tanya Gazdik , January 22, 2014

Global advertising spending rose in the third quarter of 2013 year-over-year, according to Nielsen’s quarterly Global AdView Pulse report.

The increase was 3.2% for both the quarter and for the first three quarters of the year.

The advertising market in what Nielsen described as the “powerhouse” Asia-Pacific region continues to expand, driving the third quarter’s global ad growth. This market grew 7% for the first three quarters of 2013 year-over-year.

The embattled European ad market experienced a slight reprieve, with only a small decrease of 0.4% YOY for the third quarter. This contributes to a 3.8% fall when looking at the first three quarters of the year.

Markets such as Italy and Spain, which saw double-digit declines when looking at the year-to-date, may have the worst behind them -- as declines in these markets softened to -6.3% and -7.0% respectively in the third quarter. The long-suffering Greece saw an influx of ad spending during the third quarter -- up 10.3% for Q3 and 8.2% for the year-to-date.

North America’s ad market waned slightly (1.3%) during the third quarter but still ended the first three quarters with a gain of 1.7% YOY. The small decline in the region’s third-quarter ad market partly reflects this year’s decrease in political advertising, which ruled the airwaves in advance of the U.S. election last fall.

As anticipated in Nielsen’s second-quarter 2013 report, the negative trends in Europe’s advertising market finally appear to be bottoming out.

Television continues to be the favorite medium through which advertisers attempt to reach their consumers, commanding a 57.6% share of all spending and growing 4.3% percent. Display Internet, although it represents a smaller share of spend at 4.5%, grew significantly by 32.4%.

Advertisers also poured investments into display Internet, which jumped 32.4% year-to-date.

With signs of optimism spreading within the global economy and Asia-Pacific’s ad market gaining increased momentum, Nielsen will be watching to see whether the global advertising market continues to pick up speed through the end of 2013.