PricewaterhouseCoopers (News - Alert) (PwC) has just come out with a new “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook,” and its predictions are pretty good for the music, digital and broadband industries.

The report projects from 2012 to 2016 that digital will drive growth and boost the music industry. That isn’t what’s surprising, though; publishing is also set to grow, which wasn’t exactly expected, as there has been widespread fear that the industry is in the process of dying out. 

Fortunately, PwC has proof in the numbers that publishing is in fact on the upswing. Total spending on media and entertainment is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.7 percent to $2.1 trillion by 2016, as the future of media and entertainment is apparently all about digital.

Digital will generate 67 percent of spending growth in the next five years, and the publishing industry will see traditional print books decline, as expected, but this will be more than compensated by the rise in e-books. Additionally, PwC reported on the significant rise in paid digital subscriptions for magazines, which will soon account for 6.5 percent of total magazine subscriptions by 2016.

A less surprising find was that both broadband and wireless service providers will benefit greatly from this rise in digital. Spending in order to access the Internet will grow from $317 billion, where it was last year, to $493 billion in 2016.

This is predictable but still great news for companies like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast (News - Alert).

PwC contends that the music industry also stands to benefit from the Internet and digital media, which is less obvious, as sites that offer free music such as YouTube (News - Alert) and the availability of illegal downloads from the Web have both been feared to hurt the industry.

Despite this, PwC found that music will “rebound with steady expansion,” reaching $19.8 billion in 2016, and online radio advertising is expected to hit $802 million by that same time.

Ultimately the report confirms what was already known, however: companies capable of finding every possible pathway through which to advertize and supply consumers – including subscription, digital download and traditional TV broadcast – will make the most money in the coming years.