Executive Summary
BuddeComms 2007 Broadcasting and Pay TV Annual Publication, profiles key market sectors in Australia's Free-to-Air (FTA) TV, Digital TV, Pay TV and radio markets. It provides revenue and subscriber statistics as well comprehensive market overviews in areas such as Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), digital radio, Interactive TV, Set-top Boxes and datacasting.
The report reveals that FTA television industry is now facing challenges from a number of fronts as incumbent broadcasters cling to their lucrative oligopolies. Marketing and media buyers are increasingly turning to alternative media, such as through Internet and mobile channels in order to reach consumers. Digital FTA TV has been held up in a vicious cycle since its launch. Available digital content, beyond simply offering better picture qualities, has been nowhere near sufficient to help drive digital TV. The main driver of growth has been 'user experience' delivered by DVDs and plasma screens.
By early 2007 with the vast majority of subscribers on digital services, pay TV penetration had only reached just over 25% and we expect penetration to reach only 26% in 2007. An overall pay TV revenue growth of 15% was recorded in 2006 and we expect growth to remain reasonably strong in 2007, while not increasing. A launch date for digital radio of 2009 is scheduled for Australia.
Free-to-Air TV
* The Internet will become increasingly entertainment-based as broadband penetration is predicted to continue to rise steadily over next few years. Consumers will be demanding a richer and extensive online experience through services such as video based entertainment.
* During the six years from 2001 to 2006, viewing of FTA television fell by over 11%, while overall TV viewing increased, mainly driven by the rise of pay TV. The FTA networks are expected to see intense competition for viewers and advertising in 2007 and beyond, which will impact on their cost margins as they will be forced to put more money into programming and marketing.
* TV stations must market themselves more aggressively due to threats from the new media sector. Broadcasting ad revenues are already gradually being squeezed due to falling audiences and rising costs.
* Australian audiences have increasing choice and control over when, where and how they consume media. These choices have been facilitated by the rise of technologies such as digital media players (iPods and MP3 players), digital personal video recorders, and video and audio downloads.
* From 2002 to 2006, subscription television increased its average audience by approximately 30%. This increase has been at the expense of FTA networks.
Digital TV
* By the beginning of 2007, penetration of digital TVs (digital receivers or digital integrated TVs) stood at only 25% of Australian households, which still classifies digital TV as a niche medium.
* The main driver of growth has been �user experience� delivered by DVDs and plasma screens. This has been a bigger driver for digital TV devices than digital TV itself.
* Rate of adoption increased significantly in 2006 as the price of widescreen TVs (plasma and LCD) dropped to below $2000 at the lower end of the market.
* By early 2007, the move towards flat panel TVs had further accelerated with CRT TVs only constituting a small proportion of TV sales as the price of the smaller screen LCD TVs and standard definition plasmas had dropped further. This trend will continue to accelerate through to 2008 as CRT televisions are totally phased out by retailers.
* The estimated number of free to view digital television receivers sold to retailers and installers in the Australian market during the period 1 October to 31 December 2006 reached 302,000 units, raising the cumulative total sales figure since digital television transmissions began to over 2.3 million.
Pay TV
* With the introduction of digital pay TV, the industry only saw modest growth through 2004 and 2005. Growth in 2006 in fact even slowed a bit further.
* By early 2007 with the vast majority of subscribers on digital services, penetration had only reached just over 25% and we expect penetration to reach only 26% in 2007.
* While it is still not impossible for pay TV reach the 35-40% penetration mark, this level can only be reached these targets if more attractive price packages are offered, or a broadband offering within an affordable priced package is offered. So far both Foxtel and Telstra have not been able to come up with such attractive packages.
* For the year to December 2006, pay TV subscribers in Australia increased by just over 9%, only a modest increase on the previous year. A similar growth pattern is expected to continue further into 2007 and 2008.
* An overall pay TV revenue growth of 15% was recorded in 2006 and we expect growth to remain reasonably strong in 2007, while not increasing.
In contrast, a media release issued by Free TV Australia last year to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of television issued the following figures:
FREE TV FACTS:
Viewing
· Free TV reaches more than 14 million Australians every day1
· In 2006, viewing of Free TV is up two per cent in metro markets and three per cent in regional areas2
· In the key demographic of 25-54s, viewing is up nearly four per cent2
· Every one of the top 40 programs each week on Free TV attracts an average metro audience of at least 1 million viewers*
· The top rating program on Free TV frequently attracts an average audience of more than 2 million viewers in metro areas alone*
Drama
· Commercial television spend on Australian drama in 2004/05 was more than $113 million – up 26% on 1999-20003
· In 2005, the commercial networks broadcast more than 500 hours of first release Australian Adult drama3
· Broadcasters also screened 96 hours of first release Children’s drama3
Sport
· Eleven of the top 20 programs so far in 2006, have been sports programs**
· Viewing of sport on Free TV has increased 28% this year4
· Viewing of sport by Women 25-54 has increased by 44%4
· Free TV broadcasters use the rights they acquire to sports events on the anti-siphoning list
· Crosby Textor Research conducted in late 2005 found that 89% of those surveyed believed that it is important to keep the antisiphoning rules in place and 64% said it’s important to maintain the current level of sporting coverage on free to air television Free TV Australia Page 3 Media Release
News
· More than 14 million Australians tuned in to a commercial free-to-air news and current affairs program last week alone5
· Spend on news and current affairs in 2004/05 by commercial television networks was more than $167 million3
Contribution to Australian production
· Free TV broadcasters spent $813 million on Australian programming in 2004/05 representing 70% of all programming costs3
· Spending on Australian programming has increased 16% since 1999/20003
· Free TV networks remain the major underwriters of the audio-visual production industry in Australia6
Contribution to consolidated revenue
· Free TV networks have contributed over $2 billion dollars in licence fees over the last decade (over and above normal tax payments)
Figures compiled by Free TV Australia
1 Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM: survey weeks 7-16, 2006
2 Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM data; Free TV analysis of survey weeks 7-34, 2006
3 ACMA Broadcasting Financial Results 2004-05
4 Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM data; Free TV analysis of survey weeks 7-31, 2006
5 Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM data; Free TV analysis of survey week 36, 2006
6 Australian Film Commission, Get the Picture 2005
* Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM
** Figures sourced from OzTAM and RegionalTAM; weeks 1-35, 2006
I guess some discrepancy might be explained by Free TV only looking at particular ratings periods and types of shows e.g. news and sport which traditionally rate well and only looking at one year instead of trying to see a trend as Budde's report does.
No comments:
Post a Comment