U.S. Communications Industry expected to Outpace projected U.S. Economic Growth in 2012.

Driven by an improving economy and stronger-than-expected results across all digital media, total U.S. Communications Industry spending increased 4.2% in 2011 and is on pace to grow at an accelerated 5.6% in 2012, reaching $1.185 trillion and outpacing GDP growth of 4.4%, according to Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS). These findings are included the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update, a new annual companion publication to the VSS Communications Industry Forecast 2011-15.

The VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update, which provides horizontal perspective and data on the rapidly changing media, entertainment and communications landscape in a challenging economic environment, found that total Communications Industry spending was up from a base of $1.076 trillion in 2010. VSS estimates total spending will reach $1.419 trillion in 2015, representing growth of $343 billion, or 31.8% point to point, and a 5.7% Compound Annual Growth Rate.

Several industry segments are projected to outperform GDP growth of 4.4% in 2012, including Pure-Play Consumer Internet & Mobile Services (18.1%), Public Relations & Word-of-Mouth Marketing (14.6%), Broadcast Television (9.3%), Subscription Television (7.7%), and Branded Entertainment (7.5%).

“While the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update clearly shows the strong growth momentum of digital media in such segments as Pure-Play Consumer Internet & Mobile Services, and Branded Entertainment, it also highlights the impact of a strengthening economy,” said John Suhler, Co-Founder and President of VSS. “What’s resulted is an increase in spending within the U.S. Communications Industry as both consumers and businesses begin to expand their use of a variety of communications platforms and tools such as mobile devices and tablets. Bottom line: This is the best news for the industry in several years.”

VSS established the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update to provide a near final spending estimate for the just-past year, as well as the first year of the most-recent VSS Forecast, and an updated estimate of spending for the current year, which is the second year of the five-year period covered in the latest VSS Forecast. The VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update will be released at the end of the first quarter each calendar year.

The VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update tracks, analyzes and forecasts data by six broad Communications Industry Sectors, four major Industry Revenue Streams and 20 key Industry Segments as defined in the VSS Forecast. Industry Sectors include Targeted Media, Business & Professional Information & Services, Entertainment & Leisure Media, Education & Training Media & Services, Traditional Marketing, and Traditional Consumer Advertising Media. Revenue Stream components include Advertising, Marketing Services, Institutional End-User, and Consumer End-User. Within these broad sectors, VSS tracks 20 key Industry Segments and more than 100 subsegments.

Industry Sectors with the Biggest Gains

While growth estimates for five of six Industry Sectors – defined as groups of industry segments sharing characteristics based on primary revenue streams – outpaced expectations for 2011 and 2012, Sectors with the most dramatic changes included Targeted Media and Traditional Marketing.

Spending on Targeted Media in 2012, which includes direct marketing, branded entertainment, outsourced custom content, pure-play consumer internet & mobile services, and business-to-business (B-to-B) media, has been revised upward from the original 7.7% growth projection in the annual VSS Forecast to 8.1% in the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update. The upward revision was driven by strong performances in all segments except branded entertainment and outsourced custom publishing. VSS adjusted the 2010-2015 CAGR from 7.9% to 8.4%, reaching $278.4 billion to reflect expectations of stronger growth for most digital components within the sector, including e-custom publications, e-media in B-to-B media, and the entire pure-play consumer internet & mobile services segment.

Traditional Marketing, which includes consumer promotions, B-to-B promotions, public relations and word-of-mouth marketing, has been revised upward from 3.1% to 3.8% in 2012, as businesses are expected to continue to increase spending for all three segments, especially B-to-B promotions. VSS raised the 2010-2015 CAGR for Traditional Marketing from 3.6% to 4.2% to reflect anticipated acceleration in spending on Traditional Marketing during the latter part of the forecast period, reaching $86.6 billion.

Spending on Business & Professional Information & Services in 2012, which includes business & professional information (BPI) and business & professional services (BPS), will slightly exceed the original VSS Forecast published last September, climbing from 6.3% to 6.4%. VSS believes institutions will continue to increase spending on Business & Professional Information & Services to provide employees with must-have information, data and workflow tools to increase efficiency and profitability. Improving employment trends are expected to spur higher investment in BPI, particularly in the second half of 2012 and 2013, when leading companies will also increase spending on BPS products and services to meet the demands of growing workforces. Due to these key trends, the 2010-2015 CAGR was raised from 6.5% to 6.8%, with spending reaching $247.2 billion.

VSS expects 2012 growth for the Education & Training Media & Services sector to climb from 5.2% to 5.3%. The increase is being driven by increased spending on outsourced corporate training. VSS believes a slight change to state adoption cycles in the K-12 instructional media industry, combined with increasing college enrollment, will help drive the sector during the forecast period. The 2010-2015 CAGR has been revised upward from 5.2% to 5.4% to reflect these factors, reaching $293.0 billion.

Entertainment & Leisure Media, which includes subscription television, entertainment media (TV programming, home video, videogames, recorded music, box office) and consumer book publishing, is the only industry sector to be downgraded in the VSS Forecast Mid-Term Update for 2012. VSS found that while there will be gains in box office and branded digital platforms, such as online and mobile videogames, it will not be enough to help offset prolonged weak results in the printed book market. As a result, the growth rate of 5.8% forecast for the sector in 2012 was trimmed to 5.7%. The 2010-2015 CAGR was also cut from 5.6% to a 5.5%, reaching $353.9 billion, as strong growth in videogames, driven by the release of new console hardware.

For more information at http://www.vssforecast.com