The global entertainment and media industry is experiencing sustained growth and will increase at a 6.4 percent compound annual growth rate to $2 trillion in 2011, according to new research from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
In the research firm’s “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook 2007-2011” report, double-digit growth is expected for digital and mobile spending in each territory during the next five years rising to $153 billion by 2011. Spending related to the distribution of entertainment and media on convergent platforms (convergence of the home computer, wireless handset and television) is also growing at double-digit rates and will exceed 50 percent of global spending by 2011.
Within the next five years, nearly half of the total industry growth is expected to be generated through online and wireless technologies and, during the same period, broadband households will grow by 300 million to 540 million subscribers, and wireless subscribers will increase by 1.1 billion to 3.4 billion.
“Content, distribution and technology companies need to aggressively seek out new relationships to accommodate the shift towards convergence,” said Jim O’Shaughnessy, chairman of entertainment and media practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Asia Pacific will be the fastest-growing convergent platform region with a projected 13.5 percent increase, and double-digit growth is expected in Latin America as Internet and broadband penetration begins to gain momentum. Economic expansion and a surging entertainment and media market are driving significant growth in Brazil, Russia, India and China.
The United States remains the largest but slowest growing market, growing at a 5.3 percent compound annual growth rate reaching $754 billion in 2011. U.S. spending on Internet advertising and access will surpass spending on newspaper publishing in 2009, the report predicted.
The global Internet market rose 21.8 percent, the fastest-growing segment in 2006 and the fourth consecutive increase in excess of 20 percent. Advertising rose 37.9 percent, and access spending increased 18.8 percent. The migration of Internet subscribers from dial-up to broadband is the principal driver.
The TV network market rose 6.2 percent in 2006, compared with 6.3 percent gains in 2003 and 2005, but significantly less than the growth in 2004, which had been driven by the Summer Olympics advertising. Multichannel advertising will be the fastest-growing sector in each region, buoyed by large increases in digital households.
