The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing will boost the advertising market by more than 20 percent, said consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) yesterday.

PwC said in its global entertainment and media industry outlook for 2007 to 2011 that the Chinese advertising market is expected to grow at an average annual rate of 15 percent to $22 billion by 2011, about half of the size of the Japanese market.

However, the growth this year and the next year will be over 20 percent, as advertising clients increase spending.

"Advertising spending related to the Beijing Olympic Games is expected to grow in double-digits in 2007 with another jump in 2008, and this growth will be visible across all media delivery platforms including print, radio and television," said Grace Tang, assurance partner with PwC's entertainment and media practice.

GroupM, the largest media ad buying agency under the WPP Group, gave an even bolder prediction - 29 percent growth in advertising spending in 2008.

Digital media, mainly on the Internet, will double to $2.2 billion in two years. TV advertising will continue dominating the market with 70 percent market share, while newspapers' share will fall from 15 percent in 2006 to 11 percent in 2008.

Sina Corp, the largest online advertising firm in China, said its advertising revenue grew by 43 percent in the first quarter to $31.80 million.

In its annual advertising bid in November, the national broadcaster, CCTV, got 6.8 billion yuan of orders for 2007, 16 percent higher than the previous year. Bank of China and Lenovo Group became the two biggest spenders at the conference.

In the next five years, the overall media and entertainment market of China will grow to $169 billion at an average of 16.8 percent, 2.6 times the global average. China is forecast to surpass Japan in 2009 at $130 billion.