According to ITMedia Consulting, in 2023 the television market in Western Europe (former EU15+CH+N) increased by 1.2%, reaching an overall value of €76.4 bln, compared to the €75.5 bln in 2022. However, these figures don’t take into account the inflation rate of 6.4% in 2023, which turns the relative positive numbers in absolute term in a net loss of -5.4% in real terms. Nevertheless, when compared to 2022, the losses in real terms are lower, considering a decrease of almost 9% when inflation rate peaked 9.2%.

In any event, Pay-TV contributed most to the market growth, with an annual increase of 5%.  Pay-TV keeps by large its ranking as the first revenue source in the European television market, reaching 58% of total revenues in 2023 with respect to advertising. these figures do not give a complete picture of the situation, since the total result hides the two different sides of one coin.On one side, the VOD component has continued to widely grow, passing from 29% of total revenues in 2019 to 51% in 2023, hence surpassing for the very first time the linear Pay-TV as the main source of pay revenues, doubling its revenues in just five years earlier (+€9 bln!). On the opposite, traditional premium Pay-TV in the meantime has been losing its dominance over the market, also dramatically reducing revenues over the last four years (-€3.6 bln).

Conversely, while in 2021 total TV advertising saw a stunning increase in Western Europe, approaching €26 bln, compared to less than €22 bln for 2020, with a +18% increase, in 2022 and 2023 a decrease occurred, albeit at a much lower rate of around 3% yoy, down to €24.4 bln. As a matter of fact, revenues now are slightly less than in the pre-Covid time, witnessing the crisis of the sector, with stagnating revenues or even declining, compared to the values recorded in the last 10 years. 

This is although AVOD has started to take advantage of its double nature - more digital/interactive with respect to the “mainstream” FTA TV and “free” with respect to the other forms of streaming VOD - becoming increasing important in the total ads revenue in Western Europe, However, it is not compensating yet for the loss of advertising revenues in mainstream linear TV, in contrast to what has happened in the Pay-TV sector.

Moreover, it should be emphasized that the advertising component related to traditional media contributed differently in Italy, as well as in Spain to the general trend in overall industry revenues. The two countries show greater resilience, with AVOD market shares still marginal - half the UK, Germany and France - reflecting the strength of traditional broadcasters operating in the digital terrestrial environment

Same happens in the consumption of TV content, where the countries specifics, together with demographics, make the difference in the role of linear television in each country,Once again, Italy represents the most resilient country to the transition to the online only television system, followed by Spain. At the other end of the spectrum, the United Kingdom is the closest to the US experience (also deeply analyzed in the report), where the shift from broadcast to broadband, even by free-to-air broadcasters, is now evident, held back only by the still limited use of the Internet by the older generations. In the middle, even if at a different stage, Germany and France, where the process now appears already marked and non-reversible.

This and much more in a 120 pages Report - over 100 explanatory figures (diagrams, graphs and tables) - not to be missed.

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