Report: BVOD drives positive end to volatile year for TV advertising

Broadcast video on-demand services have proven the exceptional performer in the TV category during what was a volatile year for the television ecosystem, ThinkTV’s latest figures show.

The group has released its six-month and full-year figures for TV advertising spend in 2020, finding TV recorded a 0.5 per cent increase in revenue for the six months to 31 December 2020 despite experiencing significant ups and downs as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. This represented $1.96 billion in revenue.

The star element was BVOD, which saw 52.7 per cent growth over the six-month period. Services incorporated into this figure include 7Plus, 10 Play, Kayo and Foxtel Now. The worst performer was regional free-to-air, which fell 4.8 per cent over the six-month timeframe.

In total, the TV market recorded $3.45 billion in advertising revenue for the full year, down 10.7 per cent year-on-year. Within this, BVOD was up 40 per cent, while metro FTA was down 10.5 per cent and regional FTA down 15 per cent.  

ThinkTV CEO, Kim Portrate, BVOD revenue is performing exceptionally well in line with significant audience growth.

“The medium has established a new baseline for viewership with more than 1.6 million hours of BVOD content being consumed every week with more and more Australians – advertisers and consumers alike – embracing the platform,” she noted.

Overall, Portrate summarised 2020 as a difficult year that ended with some positives.

“The effect of the pandemic was felt keenly in the September quarter before the TV market finished the calendar year on a very promising note,” she said. “Despite COVID-led market volatility, TV has, and continues to, play a pivotal role in communicating brand messages at scale driving business results in both the short and the long term for advertisers.”

Figures released by SMI last week also illustrated an upsurge in advertising spend in the last months of 2020. Its December figures found TV ad spend had experienced an 11 per cent increase in the last month with revenue growth of 15.3 per cent for the December quarter and a decline of only 1.2 per cent for the December half.

SMI said total ad spend for the December quarter was up 5.4 per cent driven by digital, which experienced a 15.9 per cent increase in the last quarter to soar to $223 million in bookings.  

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