Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Music to our advertising-supported, Internet magazine-publishing ears: The global entertainment and media industry is in a solid growth phase and will increase 6.6 percent annually to $1.8 trillion in 2010, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ “Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006-2010,” released yesterday.
That’s a lot of damned entertainment. Humans are already by far the most entertained species in the known universe.
Most germane to my specific selfish concerns, Internet advertising will soar at an 18.1 percent annual rate to $52 billion in 2010. The Internet will constitute nearly 10 percent of global advertising in 2010 compared with less than 3 percent in 2002. Global advertising in general will increase 6.2 percent annually to $521 billion in 2010 from $385 billion in 2005.
Broadband is making all of this Internet activity go. In 2005, the broadband universe totaled 187 million households, up from only 30 million in 2001. By 2010, there will be an additional 246 million broadband households, bringing the total to 433 million globally. Eventually broadband Internet access will reach the TV/telephone/indoor plumbing penetration range, all around 99% in the US – although forced to choose, a fair number of people would rather watch TV and talk on the phone than poop and bathe in the house.
Mobile entertainment — driven by wireless subscriber growth, rollout of next generation handsets and high-speed wireless networks — will grow wildly as well. There were a total of 1.8 billion wireless telephone subscriptions globally in 2005. That figure will rise to 2.8 billion by 2010, adding one billion potential customers for mobile content over the next five years.
The U.S. will remain the largest but slowest-growing entertainment and media region, growing at a 5.6 percent compound annual rate, reaching $726 billion in 2010. We already have more entertainment and media than many people would have thought possible for humans to consume in the midst of other relatively important activities like sleeping, working, eating, interacting with others, exercising, procreating, creating, pondering, and spiritualizing.
Of course, we have also learned that most or all of these activities are not mutually exclusive with entertainment and media: we are multitasking mofos.
Asia Pacific remains the fastest-growing region, led by explosive growth in the People’s Republic of China and India. Spending in Asia Pacific will average 9.2 percent compound annual growth, reaching $425 billion in 2010. China will pass Japan in 2009 to become the largest market in Asia Pacific, according to the report.
Digital technologies — online rental subscriptions and digital streaming of filmed entertainment, digital downloads and mobile music in recorded music, online and wireless video games, electronic books, and online casino gaming — are changing the way consumers acquire entertainment and media content. Global spending via online and wireless channels reached $19 billion in 2005 and will increase to $67 billion by 2010.
“Virtually every segment of the entertainment and media industry is shifting from physical distribution to digital distribution of content,” said Wayne Jackson, global leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Entertainment & Media Practice. “As this shift continues, we see more revenue opportunities for entertainment and media companies. So while physical distribution of content is declining, that decline will be offset somewhat by digital distribution, which is driving and creating new growth opportunities.”
