Spain: OTT growth impacts TV ad revenues & audience
May 29, 2019
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The increasing penetration of OTT is having a negative impact on traditional linear TV in Spain – particularly ad revenues and audience numbers.
A report from Zenith Vigía warns of the fact that traditional operators may lose up to 4.3 per cent in ad revenues this year.
The consultancy firm estimates that this year TV ad revenues in linear FTA TV channels will fall by 1 per cent, whereas pay-TV will achieve a growth of 4.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, streaming services like Netflix, HBO and Prime Video are gaining momentum. GECA, a TV consultancy firm, says a key reason for this is that the evening prime time comes an hour later than the traditional 21:45 time slot, and this is pushing many viewers towards streaming and VoD services. Traditional TV has lost 1.6 million viewers in the last six years to the present 16 million a day. Its consumption has fell by 20 minutes to 228 minutes per viewer a day.
“The systematic delay in the start of evening prime time is boosting OTT in Spain”, commented GECA.