Growth in Asia's entertainment and media market (E&M), excluding Japan, over the next five years is expected to outpace the rest of the world, said PricewaterhouseCoopers in its annual outlook for the industry.

E&M spending in Asia ex-Japan is expected to grow at a pace of 7.1 per cent annually until 2013, surpassing that of Latin America at 5.1 per cent annually.

Including Japan, Asia's growth rate will be at 4.5 per cent annually.

In terms of total market spend, Asia Pacific remains the third largest, reaching $413 billion by 2013, after the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region at $596 billion and North America at $532 billion.

On average, the global E&M market is expected to grow by 2.7 per cent to $1.6 trillion in 2013.

Growth in the Singapore market is expected to be more muted at 0.9 per cent compounded annually to reach $3.1 billion in 2013.

Mr Greg Unsworth, PwC's Asia Pacific Technology industry leader and head of the entertainment and media industry practice, said the recession has impacted consumer spending and advertising revenue in the entertainment and media sectors.

'Growth in the industry in Singapore will remain relatively weak and fragmented in the short to medium term,' he said, adding that 'we will begin to see resumption in growth by the end of 2010.'

E&M spending in Singapore will see an overall drop of 3.7 per cent from 2009 to 2010 before returning to growth at 4.1 per cent for the remaining period to 2013.

The structural move to digital media 'will involve a re-thinking and a shift in revenue models not just in internet-driven revenues but across the entire industry', said Mr Unsworth.

In Singapore, advertising growth in Internet and video games are expected to outpace growth in the other platforms. Internet advertising is expected to grow an an annual rate of 21.6 per cent from 2011 to 2013.

Advertising growth in television, consumer magazines and newspaper segments will be slower, ranging between 0.8 per cent and 2.5 per cent during the same period.