Page 37 - AIB | The Chanel | Issue 2 2012

THE CHANNEL | ISSUE 2 2012 | 37
Far from fading,
television
continues to shine
brightly in Asia, is
the confident
verdict from
Aravind
Venugopal. As
analyst at Media
Partners Asia, a
leading provider of
research and
analysis on media
and telecoms in
Asia, he has the
finger on the pulse
of what's
happening in the
whole region. Here
is his overview and
outlook
he television
industry in Asia
Pacific remains full
of growth with much
more potential in
the years to come.
TV viewership,
including both terrestrial free‐to‐air
(FTA) and pay‐TV, continues to
grow, especially in emerging
markets such as India and across
Southeast Asia. At the same time,
strong macro‐economic drivers are
creating a powerful demand driver
for TV. This is helping fuel both TV
and pay‐TV household penetration.
According to Media Partners
Asia (MPA), the proportion of
households that have at least one
TV set in Asia Pacific topped 80% in
2011 and will trend towards 90% by
2020. Television viewership in
Southeast Asia and India is
trending at around four hours a
day and FTA TV has an average
70% or more of the total advertising
pie in Southeast Asia (with the
exception of Malaysia where print
has ~50% share), close to 45% in
India and 30% ‐ 40% in North Asia,
where broadband and online is
more pervasive.
Key macro drivers of future TV
industry growth include rising
incomes, literacy and the growth of
households and urbanisation in
major geographies. Industry drivers
include the massive growth of local
and regional programming in
Asia’s largest markets and its
appeal to consumers across mass
demographics as well as key
advertisers.
At the same time, pay‐TV
penetration is growing rapidly,
reaching 43% of total households
(or more than 50% of TV homes) in
Asia Pacific last year. This is
expected to grow to about 65% by
2020 (about 70% of total TV homes),
according to MPA. The growth of
both digital terrestrial TV (DTT)
and digital pay‐TV in the years to
come is important as DTV switch‐
over approaches in key markets
over the next decade, including
T
ASIAN
TV
STAR
▼