Ad spend is set to increase by 5% in the Asia Pacific region this year, according to a study by Media Partners Asia.

The consultancy predicted that despite global economic instability, total adspend in the region would hit a 5.1% increase in 2011.

The new prediction is more positive than the firm's last prediction, which suggested that ad spend in the Asia Pacific region would only increase by 4.5% this year. At the same time it suggests a slowdown on last year's 8.9% ad spend increase for the region.

"It's an uncertain period as we enter Q4 because of the deteriorating global macro view and various local issues such as floods in Thailand, FMCG pressures in India, consumer weakness in Australia and the Philippines, and some softness creeping into Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore," commented Vivek Couto, director of research and content at Media Partners Asia.

Meanwhile the same firm suggested that India will emerge as the third largest television advertising market by 2016, behind Japan and China, and that television ad revenue in India will overtake Australia and Korea to touch $5.4bn (£3.8bn).