2016 Global Digital and Mobile Media - Video Streaming, Smart TV and Entertainment Industries

The global streaming revolution is taking place

The global digital media entertainment market continues to go from strength to strength in 2016. In particular the global streaming revolution is gathering pace. Streaming is closing in on broadcast TV and the Internet now rivals broadcast TV as a vehicle to deliver consumer content. The entertainment industry generally is flourishing on the back of improved mobile and broadband infrastructure and consumers today have an enormous appetite for gaming, social media, video streaming and music.

The success of social networking remains undiminished and the evolution of social media as a marketing and purchasing tool continues.  Accessing social media via mobile devices has become the norm in the developed markets and mobile social networking companies are now hoping to capitalise on the developing markets where mobile devices have the potential to be a much larger market than fixed based internet services. Mobile video communication in the developed markets is also a key area for potential growth via services such as FaceTime.

Facebook continues to dominate social media platforms.

Music was one of the key drivers behind the early developments in digital media and the music market was revolutionised when Apple’s iTunes Music Store was launched in 2003. With faster speeds, music streaming is now rising in popularity in both the fixed and mobile networks. The industry is finally seeing an acceptance of licensed music services and by the end of 2015 there were around 68 million subscribers to music services worldwide. In 2016 the digital music sector continues to have strong growth as it expands into new international markets and the number of licensed digital music services increases.

While the concept of Smart TVs presents a lot of possibilities – in reality many consumers feel that Smart TV has so far failed to deliver. Criticisms include that lack of user-friendly interfaces and frustration that applications are not updated as quickly as those on mobile devices. Despite this sentiment; some countries around the world are adopting smart TVs faster than others with uptake being driven by the streaming capabilities offered by Smart TV along with increasing demand for HD 4K.

Pay TV appears to have flat-lined, mostly in countries where cable has achieved 90% household penetration. There is increasing evidence of cord-cutting – consumers are turning off their TV and opting for over-the-top internet services. As a result, services such as the US video streaming service-provider Netflix are thriving. Netflix is currently expanding outside of its domestic market and in early 2016 it had over 75 million subscribers worldwide. In 2015 Hollywood’s revenues saw video streaming overtake revenue from DVDs for the first time.

Looking ahead, BuddeComm sees the continuing adoption of cloud technology in the digital entertainment sector along with the increasing implementation of wearable technology. Mobile gaming still has considerable growth opportunities, especially as mobile broadband infrastructure continues to improve. This will also assist the ongoing progress of mobile TV/video. The developing markets still offer enormous prospects for digital entertainment with changes to business models and content perhaps required in order to capitalise upon this potential.

Key developments:

• Revenue generation for digital services is still highly dependent on the advertising sector.
• Global mobile app revenues in 2016 are expected to reach over $50 billion.
• Around half of all digital music revenue globally is now generated by streaming music sales.
• By early 2015 digital music distribution accounted for more than 70% of music revenue in the US, compared to about 21% for CDs.
• Games are by far the most popular genre of app downloaded.
• Social networks are subject to the fickle nature of consumer preferences and in recent years Twitter has felt the impact of slowing popularity.
• In 2016 Facebook further strengthened its video capabilities with the launch of its Facebook Live Video feature.
• The switch-over to digital TV is well underway with over 1 billion digital households globally. China, USA and India account for the majority of digital homes.
• Movement towards TV channel-unbundling are still underway in Canada.