London – The Beijing Olympics will help boost television’s share of the global advertising market to a record 38.2% in 2008, equating to revenues of $US182.3 billion, according to ZenithOptimedia. It projects the total ad pie, worth $457.4 billion this year, will grow to $488.2 billion next year and $516.6 billion in 2009. The media services firm predicts online video and local search will drive 30% growth in internet ad expenditure this year – nine times faster than the rest of the ad market. Between 2006 and 2009, Internet ad spend will balloon by 85% to $48.1 billion, raising its market share from 6.1% to 9.5%. Television’s share in 2008 is expected to grow by 0.5 percentage points to 41.3% in China, 42.5% in Asia Pacific (up 0.3%) and 38.2% across the world. In the absence of the Olympics’ stimulus, TV’s share will fall back a fraction to 38.1% in 2009, but that would equal its previous peak in 2004. ZenithOptimedia calculates major media ad spending in Asia Pacific will accelerate from $95.3 billion this year to $104 billion in 2008 (up 9.1%) and $110.3 billion in 2009 (plus 6%).