TV adspend is continuing to grow in the Americas, although not as quickly as in the 1990s, according to a new report from ZenithOptimedia.
ZenithOptimedia says that television advertising is now growing at 5% a year in the region, compared to 6.3% a year in the 1990s, with competition from cable and satellite companies keeping prices down, as well as the rise of internet advertising.
In addition, the commercial TV market in the Americas is bigger than that of Europe and Asia Pacific combined, whilst the US is still the only country with a nationwide digital terrestrial television (DTT) service in the region.
In the UK, the Freeview DTT service is expected to drive uptake of digital television, with analyst Datamonitor predicting Freeview to become the largest digital platform in the UK by 2008 (see UK Only Country In Europe With Over 50% DTV Services).
In 2003, the Americas became the first region where subscriptions became the main source of commercial television revenue, followed in 2005 by Western Europe.
Cable remains the most popular means of receiving pay-TV in the region, but digital satellite is growing rapidly and luring customers away from cable. Pay-TV subscription revenues are forecast to account for almost 54% of commercial revenues in the region by 2014.
ZenithOptimedia says that cable operators are responding to this competition by upgrading their networks to offer better services.
The report shows that the television markets of the 16 countries covered in the Television In The Americas report generated over US$140 billion in advertising expenditure and subscription revenues in 2005, about 20% more than was generated in the whole of Europe and Asia Pacific, with the US and Canada contributing about 85% of the total.
The penetration of multichannel television in the region has increased from 38% in 1990 to 57% in 2005, with ZenithOptimedia predicting it to reach about 60% by 2014.
It also estimates that DTH penetration across the Americas now stands at around 14%, with this predicted to rise to around 20% by 2014.
However, cable penetration appears to have peaked, reaching 45% in 2001, although it has been falling ever since. Cable penetration is expected to fall to 37% by 2014.
Furthermore, ZenithOptimedia forecasts that digital penetration will reach 52% of all households by 2014, having grown from nothing in 1993 to 28% in 2005.
According to figures recently released by Nielsen Monitor-Plus, total US adspend rose 5.1% year on year for the first half of 2006 (see US Adspend Grew 5.1% In H1 2006).
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