Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Entertainment Spending Grows, Digital Grows Faster

               The communications and major media businesses are alike in some ways. The economics of the businesses favor firms that can operate at scale.


Both have a business-to-consumer as well as a business-to-business component. Among the differences is the advertising revenue models that are more important for much of media. 


Communications still is dominated by subscription sales.


But the "media" business is fundamentally unlike the communications business in one sense. It is based on "scarcity" to a much greater extent than the communications business.


Media also is about "audiences," not "subscribers" or "users." That is not to say subscribers and users are unimportant.


It is to say that media succeeds only when it creates engagement and attention. And that turns out to be a matter of "art," not science.


There is plenty of "media" produced and consumed, but precious little of it attracts any significant amount of advertising support.


That scarcity accounts for the different pricing mechanisms in media and communications. 
Where retail prices can, and do, rise every year in media, prices tend to decline in communications, even as both types of industries shift to a digital format.


Global entertainment and media spending on digital advertising and consumer formats increased by 17.6 percent in 2011, for example, according to PwC.


Digital's share of total spend will grow from 28 percent in 2011 to 37.5 percent in 2016, and digital spending will account for 67 percent of total entertainment and media spending growth to 2016.


That includes both consumer spending on content as well as advertising.


Global spending on digital recorded music formats will overtake physical distribution in 2015, reaching 55 percent of total revenues in 2016.


And global spending on online and wireless video games will overtake console and PC games revenues in 2013.


By contrast, the digital component of consumer magazines will account for only 10.4 percent of spending by 2016, up from 3.1 percent in 2011.

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