The burgeoning economic growth of such countries as Brazil, China and India and the proliferation of digital mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets will result in a steady rise in entertainment spending over the next few years, a PricewaterhouseCoopers study has predicted. Global spending on media is expected to rise to $2.2 trillion in 2017 versus $1.6 trillion in 2012. The growth is really going to be concentrated on digital media platforms and associated consumption, Joe Atkinson, a principal with PricewaterhouseCoopers' entertainment and media practice, told the Los Angeles Times. However, the report depicts digital media as a disruptive force in the media, the newspaper observed, as they splinter the audience and play havoc with the cable networks' business model, selling packages of cable channels to subscribers.