Australians are taking to IPTV services and applications with one analyst predicting that one in four of us will use a subscription service over free TV within 4 years.PWC claims in their annual report that new mobile media apps will drive growth in Australia’s media and entertainment industry which will grow by over 18%.
They believe as revenues continue to decline in newspapers and magazines, new digital subscriptions will grow. They warned “these new business models require time and patience to be bedded down properly,” PwC media analyst David Wiadrowski said.
By 2017, 27 per cent of Australians will have switched to an IPTV subscription service, close to the current 30 per cent penetration rates of pay TV, the report says. “This makes IPTV a strong market contender among the boxes vying to control content shown in Australian living rooms. It also raises a key question: will IPTV grow the market or replace existing content services,” it says.
“While we expect IPTV to provide an attractive alternative to the more expensive cable or satellite-delivered subscription TV service, its success will depend on what content IPTV offers. Niche content such as foreign language channels should work well in the IPTV environment,” Wiadrowski added.
The report forecasts circulation declines for printed newspapers of 7.6 per cent a year over the next four years, and an annual fall in advertising revenues of 5.1 per cent.
