Advanced Television

TV entertainment spend up 70% over decade

May 23, 2011

Consumer expenditures on entertainment media in the US and Europe grew 69 per cent between 2000 and 2010 to reach $234.8 billion, with cable and satellite TV retaining top spot as the leading form of entertainment media during the preceding ten years, according to IHS Screen Digest.

Cable and satellite TV accounted for 59 per cent of all entertainment media spending in 2010 on the two continents, compared to 40 per cent ten years previosuly. Revenue from cable and satellite TV services reached an estimated $139.2 billion last year, up from $56.1 billion in 2000.

“Ten years ago, consumers in North America and Europe spent more on music than on video,” said Tony Gunnarsson, analyst for video at IHS. “However, the music segment has suffered from its failure to transition from physical to digital delivery.” Spending on music across all physical and digital formats is believed to have declined by 55 per cent during the first decade of the new millenium to reach $13.9 billion in 2010, accounting for just 6 per cent of total entertainment media spending, compared to 22 per cent a decade ago.

The second-largest area in terms of entertainment media spending in 2010 was video, which overtook music as early as 2001 and recorded net growth of 14 per cent during the decade to generate revenues of $32.3 billion in 2010. However, video is not without its challenges, according to the report: “Spending on the video sector peaked in 2004 at $40.7 billion, and despite subsequent growth on new platforms such as online and mobile, overall video spending since then has fallen as the DVD format reached market maturity and consumers found themselves exposed to ever-greater entertainment media choices,” added Gunnarson. “Video now makes up 14 per cent share of the total entertainment market, compared to 20 percent share 10 years ago.”

Video games was the third-largest area of entertainment media spending in 2010 and also demonstrated the fastest growth of any sector in the preceding decade, up 193 per cent from 9.9 billion ten years ago to $29 billion in 2010.

Consumer spending on cinema (still the fourth largest of the five sectors analysed) reached $20.4 billion in 2010, representing net growth of 49 per cent during the decade. However, as with the shift in spending from music to video, consumers now spend more on video games than on cinema tickets.

Categories: Broadcast, Pay TV, Research