European TV market worth €95.1 billion

TURNING DIGITAL
THE TV MARKET IN EUROPE

The European TV market grew by a modest 0.9 per cent in 2012, reaching a value of €95.1 billion, while advertising revenues were down almost four per cent to €31 billion, according to the “Turning Digital” report from Italian consultancy ItMedia Consulting.

Despite growing by 3.7 per cent, the pay-TV market is slowing down and is now worth nearly €43 billion. Traditional sources of revenue (advertising on terrestrial channels and the TV licence fee) are taking resources from pay-TV and digital advertising. In 2012, the multichannel environment accounts for 56 per cent of market value, over €53 billion.

Among the top 5 markets, Italy, together with Spain, is the country most affected by the economic crisis, with a 12 per cent fall in advertising revenue and recording a major drop in the number of pay-TV subscribers. On the other hand, together with the UK (and Finland), Italy is the first all-digital country (100 per cent) and also has the highest number of channels on DTT

Market perspectives

The emergence of faster and widely accessible internet connection is having an impact on the television and movie sectors, the outcome of which is still hard to realize. Still, concepts like smart TV, pay TV or VoD have become more familiar than traditional direct television or movie viewing.

But the emergence and rise of connected viewing is changing the rules of the game, and is expected to increasingly keep doing so. Linear viewing is still resilient and will always have its place in the broadcast ecology. But the OTT proposition provides the video consumer with a more personal and unique viewing experience, as well as opening doors to a valuable new ecosystem for content providers. This is likely to start tipping the balance more toward on-demand in the years ahead

Television has changed the world. And its times is not over yet, as it can be the engine of a brand new entertainment experience. it has much to benefit from the digital revolution, and can help to shape it. Internet platforms, online games, social media, video portals, apps: they can all make strong TV brands even stronger

Turning Digital, now at the 11th edition, is a global analysis on television in 17 countries in Western Europe. It provides data and insights of the Big 5 markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom), with more than 100 pages and 70 tables and charts.