DATA POINTS: Adspend trends in South Korea

Spending on mobile advertising grew 119 per cent to US$435 million in 2013, according to the agency. This continnues a meteoric rise from $57 million in 2011.

Cheil observed that some of the mobile growth no doubt came at the expense of internet (PC) advertising, which grew a scant 3.2 per cent over 2012.

Terrestrial TV spending fell by 5.4 per cent, and the medium's share of overall spending shrank to 19.1 per cent, down from 20.6 per cent in 2012. Cheil pointed out that broadcast spending is moving not only to mobile, but also to other forms of video delivery: spending on IPTV and satellite television both surged. As of December 2013, the number of IPTV subscribers exceeded 8.61 million, and ad expenditures hit $36 million—a 61.7 per cent increase over the prior year. Meanwhile satellite subscribers surpassed 4.18 million, and ad spending in this category rose by 16.2 per cent. 

Cheil expects overall ad spend to grow 3.8 per cent in 2014, helped by a rebounding economy and sports events (the World Cup and Winter Olympics)

Here are some other 2013 statistics from Cheil's report:

• Total spending reached $8.99 billion
• Ad expenditures on newspapers and magazines recorded 'negative growth' of 6.6 per cent and 8.4 per cent, respectively.
• Male fashion magazines maintained 3.8 per cent growth, continuing a positive trend that stretches back to 2010. 
• Search and display advertising attracted $1.2 billion and $645 million in spending, respectively.
• Search advertising still represents a high share, but the ratio of display advertising spending has constantly expanded, from 32.5 per cent in 2010, to 33.0 per cent in 2011, 33.7 per cent in 2012 and 34.0 per cent in 2013.
•