Explore Brand Republic

Television ad market will stabilise, claims report

by Emma Barnett, Media Week 30-Jul-07, 11:25

LONDON - The television ad market is set to stabilise this year and start growing again in 2008, according to the latest edition of Zenith Optimedia's UK Television Forecasts to 2012.

A modest growth of 2% is predicted for 2008 and 1-2% a year for the rest of the forecast period.

The report predicts that digital conversion will essentially be complete by 2010 - at least for main household TV sets. This is two years before the analogue switch-off date although the forecast takes into account a small number of analogues that will continue to exist for a while.

Forecasts of the ad revenues generated by the digital offshoots of the main terrestrial channels: ITV2, ITV3, ITV4, CITV, E4, More4, Film4, Five Life and Five US were included in the report. E4, More4 and Film4 should make up for a 2% decline in Channel 4's revenues in 2007 and a 2%growth for the whole group's ad revenues is predicted. Five Life and Five US should do the same for Five, turning a 3% drop into a 2% increase for the group as a whole.

ITV's four digital channels however, are not growing fast enough to compensate for ITV1's decline.

The forecast concludes by reporting television airtime is at its cheapest since 1995 or since the early 1980s, after adjusting for inflation. Prices fell by 6.5% in 2006 and a further 1.4% drop is expected in 2007.