stedavies.com - communications consultant

Those number crunchers at professional services firm, Price Waterhouse Coopers, have published some research which concludes that the global entertainment and media market is expected to expand by more than a third over the next five years. Not because of us in the Western World though. Oh no, we’re too busy dealing with inflation worries; it’s the emerging markets that will show the most growth in the coming years.

The Guardian says, “Europe, the Middle East and Africa will overtake the US as the world’s largest entertainment and media market by 2009. China, meanwhile, is expected to pass the US this year to become the world’s largest broadband market, with more than 80m households on super-fast connections.”

“Europe, the Middle East and Africa will see its media market grow 6.8% a year from $570bn in 2007 to $792bn, while the US will grow by 4.8% a year from $601bn to $759bn. Asia-Pacific will increase 8.8% a year from $333bn to $508bn, with Latin America expanding from $51bn to $85bn.”

I guess this research is confirming what many of us thought and knew. Good to see it in numbers though. Fifteen years from now the media landscape (both online and offline) will be considerably different to what we’re used to. Bring on globalisation.

UK FIGURES

More stats from the Guardian article which I’m going to blatantly rip (I hope they don’t ‘do an Associated Press‘ on me)

• The UK is the largest media and entertainment market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and is expected to grow from $115bn (£59bn) last year to $152bn in 2012, according to PWC.

• By 2012, 35% of UK advertising spending will be online, against an average 19% globally. The number of UK households with broadband is expected to rise from 56.4% of the population in 2007 to 84.9% in 2012.

• By 2012 the online advertising market, at $14bn, will be worth more than newspaper advertising, at $9.4bn – or TV advertising at $7.8bn.

• Over the five years the newspaper advertising market is forecast to show compound annual growth of just 2.6% while circulation revenues will decline as readers switch to freesheets.

• The PWC report follows estimates from Enders Analysis yesterday which forecast that UK internet advertising would overtake TV advertising this year, growing 26.4% to £3.56bn, or 19% of the entire UK advertising market.

• Enders believes growth will be driven by search advertising, which will account for more than £2bn of the market. TV advertising, meanwhile, will fall 2.5% to £3.39bn, Enders estimates.