By 2018, internet ad spending will be well ahead of spending in other mediums and will reflect an overall shift to digital amongst Canadian consumers, according to a new report released Wednesday.
PwC’s 15th annual Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report, which examines the years 2014-2018, states “Internet advertising is growing at a pace far faster than other media, and in four years revenues will reach nearly $7.2 billion.”
The report also predicts mobile internet penetration will reach 55% in 2018, which will help drive digital advertising to increase its share from 14% of total advertising revenue in 2009 to 33% by 2018.
Revenues from physical home video and cable subscriptions are in decline, along with those from book and magazine publishing and the sale of CDs. Globally, traditional channels are still ahead of digital in some areas, but Canadian trends show an overall consumer migration to digital that advertisers are capitalizing on.
Television broadcast advertising revenue is on the mend since profits fell in 2009, and is expected to increase in the years leading up to 2018, when net revenues will rise to $3.9 billion.
The report predicts that newspaper print advertising revenues will fall from $1.6 billion in 2014 to $1.2 billion in 2018, although digital newspaper profits will continue to increase.
Digital recorded music revenue overtook physical recorded music in 2013, and is forecasted to account for 79% of total recorded music revenue by 2018. Although CD sales are falling, concerts are still profitable, as live music ticket sales will bring in nearly $77 million in 2018, up more than $10 million from 2014.
The report also highlights nine high-growth markets that are powering global entertainment and media revenue: China, Brazil, Russia, India, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina and Indonesia. Those markets are collectively forecast to account for 21.7% of global entertainment and media revenue in 2018, up from 12.4% in 2009.
