WPP expects to see strong growth in China

Advertising and marketing giant WPP expects to see its Greater China revenue grow by about 17% this year and next year, up from around US$600 million in 2007, Reuters reported. According to Scott Spirit, Asia strategy director at WPP, Greater China – which includes Hong Kong and Taiwan – is on course to surpass Spain and become the company’s third-largest market after the US and UK. While WPP’s clients are reducing their ad spending in the US and Western Europe in response to lower consumer demand, Spirit said he had yet to see anything similar in China. The company is looking to tap the 70% annual growth in digital media spending in China. As part of these efforts, last week WPP took a 12.82% stake in InGame Ad Interactive Technology, which helps companies to use online games as a medium to deliver advertising. Earlier this year, it bought into two other digital media-related companies, Evision and HDT.