The communications industry is on track to post a compound annual growth rate of 6.1% and a 3.5% increase in spending for the 2009-2014 period, according to a new report from private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS). However, direct marketing, business-to-business media and marketing media are expected to register some of the slowest growth rates during this period. VSS predicts traditional advertising and marketing spending will play a smaller role in the overall growth of the communications industry once the economy begins to exit from the current recession. Instead, the focus will be on digital media that leverages the ability to target specific audience groups and empower individuals to select between sources of content. The business & professional informational & services sector will grow the fastest between 2009 and 2014, posting an 8.2% compound annual growth rate. Driving that growth will be new products and services that incorporate databases, software solutions and outsourced processing services to drive productivity. The targeted media industry sector will be the second fastest growing sector, driven by double-digit growth in pure-play consumer Internet and mobile services and outsourced custom publishing. There will also be solid gains in branded entertainment. These gains will help compensate for the projected low-single digit growth in direct marketing and business-to-business media. The education & training media & services section will see a 6.8% compound annual growth rate as a result of strong gains in the for-profit post-secondary and college education markets. The entertainment & leisure media sector is forecast to post a 6.3% compound annual growth rate, driven by subscription TV. Entertainment media and consumer book publishing growth will benefit from consumer shifts to less expensive online and mobile distribution of content. Marketing media will be the slowest growing communications industry sector during this period, with an increase of 1.8%. Gains in public relations and word-of-mouth marketing won’t be able to compensate for slow growth in traditional marketing such as business-to-business promotions and consumer promotions. Growth is expected to be slow for traditional consumer advertising media as well, which includes broadcast TV, newspapers, consumer magazines, broadcast & satellite radio, yellow pages directories and out-of-home media. Growth during this period is expected to be around 2.2%. Brands and agencies are expected to re-evaluate their traditional advertising strategies as consumers continue to gravitate towards new media platforms and technologies.