Pi-Consulting

A massive shift has been recorded in Europe in the way audiences pay for television services. Hitherto the model almost everywhere has been dominated by advertising revenues, with audiences getting the commercial TV channels “free”, (free, at least, if you ignore the cost of advertising which is built into the price paid for products in the shops). However, a new report by advertising agency group Zenith Optimedia records the momentous fact that, in 2005, Western European commercial TV stations received more revenue from viewer subscriptions than from advertising sales. This is the first time the lines have crossed over. ZO account for the switch partly by TV subscription increases (average $29 per month for pay-TV in 2004, up from $25 in 2000 and $12 in 1991). Another contributing factor is TV’s waning share of advertising revenues, with the internet “taking over as the up-and-coming advertising medium”. (Source: Zenith Optimedia “Television in Western Europe to 2014”, quoted by World Advertising Research Center)