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Ad revenue down, but BVOD up.

Ad revenue dropped 4.8% percent in 2019 but there is a big uptake in BVOD revenue.

The television market in Australia fell 4.8% to $3.86 billion in 2019, according to industry marketing group ThinkTV.

This includes metropolitan & regional free-to-air (except SBS), subscription TV and Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVOD).

In the 6 months to December, the total market recorded revenue of $1.95 billion, down 5.9%.

ThinkTV CEO Kim Portrate said: “Changes in the total TV advertising market, the most effective medium for driving business growth, reflect the state of the Australian economy and the impact of weaker consumer and business confidence.”

But BVOD platforms 7Plus, 9Now, 10 Play, Kayo and Foxtel Now, have seen rapid revenue increase with BVOD up 42.8% for the six months to December 31, 2019.

“The performance of BVOD continues to buck general market performance trends retaining the title of Australia’s fastest-growing advertising medium which demonstrates a growing list of advertisers who recognise the value and effectiveness multi-platform TV provides. This is an achievement all the more noteworthy given the challenging economic conditions the wider advertising landscape is currently grappling with,” added Portrate.

3 Responses

  1. Making video players that force people to watch ads isn’t an amazing achievement, it’s the only way you can get people to watch ads in the digital world. And while ad funded BVOD is growing it’s producing only a fraction of the revenue that’s been lost due to ad skipping on DVRs and SVOD by competitors. And broadcasters are increasing buying exclusive rights to dramas then not broadcasting them — Hidden Sun, Fringe, Rockford Files, Pearson, The Enemy WithIn, The Arrangement etc .– to increase BVOD viewing.

    The ABC and SBS are still getting around $1.3b from the taxpayer (where it’s been frozen).

  2. One wonders then if thats the case why they persist in inserting record numbers of ads into each show? I would think it would be backfiring on them badly in that many people using PVRs to view them would time shift hence fwding thru most ad breaks completely & not seeing any ads. Is FTA advertising now just alot cheaper than the other options so they just buy as much ad time as possible? Having said that, the most annoying & persistant ads are the stations own promos, ch 10 especially with endless promos every single ad break for Survivor & DWTS etc for months before the show even starts.

  3. This is an interesting though esoteric subject as the future of FTA TV is facing the prospect of a continuing drop of revenue as more ad free streaming services start up.
    There’s no way that a SVOD service originating in Australia for a domestic audience can survive in the long term against global players like Netflix and Disney+ they will need financial back up like Stan has, owned by Nine Entertainment and Fairfax, this revenue gap is where ad agencies will be looking to open a market, so Stan (for example) could become like Fox Sports eventually offering select advertising slots.
    Retail and commercial advertising interests will want to muscle into streaming apps eventually, with the billions spent on content.

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