New Report Reveals Digital Media Revenue Gains

BOSTON: According to the research firm Strategy Analytics, which notes that the top 27 digital media companies delivered revenues of $74 billion last year, the content download market is withstanding the downturn better than the online advertising segment.

Among the top earners was Apple, whose revenues from the "Other Music Related Products and Services" segment, which includes iTunes, gained 32.7 percent last year. Yahoo!, meanwhile, saw its revenues rise just 3.4 percent. Strategy Analytics notes that most of the companies focusing on consumer paid-for media, such as music and video downloads, are currently withstanding the economic downturn better than most of the companies focusing on online advertising.

“While growth in the digital media sector has been slowing as a result of the global economic downturn, the industry still grew a healthy 20.5 percent in 2008 and Strategy Analytics projects a further 7 percent to 9 percent growth in 2009,” said Jia Wu, an analyst at Strategy Analytics’ Digital Consumer Practice. 

Martin Olausson, the director of digital media research at Strategy Analytics, added: “The fact that, in 2008, most of the companies focusing on consumer paid-for media in the Strategy Analytics Digital Media Index performed much better than most of the companies focusing on online advertising, could be an early indicator that we are approaching a watershed moment in the nascent digital media market, and that more focus will be put on consumer paid-for online media in the difficult years ahead."