Price Waterhouse Coopers has released its annual Australian Entertainment & Media Outlook, covering the period from 2014 to 2018.
The forecast is a wake-up call for those in media that still cling to traditional advertising methods. According to PwC, not only are marketers moving towards digital platforms, they are moving from paid advertising to “owned” or “native”, meaning that they’re creating their own content and their own channels.
However, the report quotes Nestle chief marketing officer David Morgan, warning those who think creating compelling content is easy or cheap. “I think we’re going through a naive learning phase — content is king — therefore we think we all need to be content providers,” he said.
Outlook’s Australian author, Megan Brownlow, singled out Nova Entertainment as one organisation that has been able to adapt and capitalise on new trends. She told The Australian “(We’ll see) media companies creating content for advertisers’ own channels,” she said. “One example of that is Nova programming Coles’ radio.”
Nonetheless, the Australian traditional radio advertising market is forecast to grow by a compound annual rate of 3.4 percent over the next 5 years – two and a half times the growth rate for FTA television and much better that the than the 3.1 per cent by which newspaper revenues are expected to shrink.
Also announced today were radio share predictions of 8.5% in 2014 and 8.7% in 2018. CRA Chief Executive Joan Warner commented, “It is testament to the ongoing effectiveness and influence of radio and its recognition as a key part of the media mix that it has maintained, and is predicted to increase, its share in the face of other channels suffering significant decreases.”
The PwC report, which dedicates 10 pages to radio, is summarised below.
· The growth in smartphone adoption coupled with the rise of streaming music services will increase pressure for traditional broadcasters – cannibalising listening hours and advertising spend.
· Broadcasters are responding by forming partnerships with streaming music businesses which should put them in good stead for integrated advertising sales.
· Audience measurement for online and mobile listening is a crucial issue facing the industry in the next five years.
Find out more about the full PwC Australian Entertainment & Media Outlook here.