Despite mounting pressure from advertisers in Latin America, the US has retained its position as the biggest contributor of new business to the worldwide ad market.

Figures from ad agency ZenithOptimedia and its Advertising Expenditure Forecasts for September 2014 predict global spend in the market to lift 5.3% by the end of the year to $523 billion.

This is expected to be powered immensely by a flood of new ad dollars from the US, which will contribute 26% of the $87 billion of new business entering the market between 2013-2016.

China placed second on 18%, while Indonesia accounted for 7% of new ad dollars. Argentina followed the pack on 6% but the wider Latin American region went on to record much higher growth in general.

Latin America sees double-digit growth

According to the statistics, Latin America will record a 14.3% lift in ad spend during 2014, compared to figures from last year.

This puts the region top of the table in terms of growth in spend and ahead of fast-track Asia nations (10.8%) including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Usually a hotbed for ad dollars, the Northern & Central Europe region finishes much lower down the table on 2.7% growth year on year. However, this could be a sign of a maturing market, and the marginal increase could be worth far more than the huge lift seen in Latin America.

The UK, for example, is tipped to reel in $5 billion worth of new ad business over 2013-2016, above Mexico’s $2.2 billion.

Overall spend

Separate findings from ZenithOptimedia only add weight to the theory that ad spend across Latin American regions is rising from a low base point.

In 2013, the US was the biggest ad market in terms of overall worth ($167 billion), dominating in a table which lists Brazil ($14 billion) as the only representative from Latin America.

Elsewhere Japan ($43 billion) places second with China ($41 billion) and Germany ($24 billion) finishing just behind.

The findings also provide a sneak peek into what the market could look like in 2016, and a short rundown of the biggest spending nations can be viewed below.