Analysis

The results are in for Deloitte's tenth annual Digital Democracy Survey, which reports that 70 percent of U.S. consumers binge-watch an average of five episodes per sitting, and 31 percent are bingeing on a weekly basis. The new study also found that 46 percent of Americans subscribe to streaming-video services. Millennials aged 14 to 25 are spending more time on streaming content than they are on live television.

Global advertising revenues will rise by 4.6 percent this year, ZenithOptimedia projects, reaching $579 billion, up from the 3.9-percent growth rate in 2015. ZenithOptimedia’s new Advertising Expenditure Forecasts projects global ad revenues of $600 billion in 2017, reaching $603 billion by the end of next year.

Most consumers have no plans to become cord cutters, with viewers worldwide choosing to supplement traditional TV rather than leave it, according to new Nielsen findings.

The number of pay-TV subs in Canada and the U.S. is predicted to fall from 112 million in the peak year of 2012 to 106 million in 2021, according to the fifth edition of the Digital TV North America Forecasts report. The number of pay-TV subscribers declined by 2 million in 2015. Before 2015, much of the pay-TV fall was attributed to the loss of analog cable subscribers (which still fell by 1.1 million in 2015).

A new survey of media and advertising executives points to TV's continued relevance despite shifts in video consumption, and an optimistic year-on-year outlook for the growth of the medium. Of surveyed participants, 73 percent predict that over the next three years there will be an increase in the consumption of full-length shows online; 77 percent predict an increase in smartphone video viewing; and 79 percent predict more time will be spent watching smart TVs with a direct internet connection.

A new report from IHS points to a correlation between Netflix's launch in a market and a reduction in consumer spending on buying and renting movies and TV series on disc. Consumers spent $20.9 billion buying and renting movies and TV content in the U.S. in 2006, the report observes. By last year, total spending on this segment was down by 17 percent to $17.3 billion.

PwC is projecting that 2016 will see “robust” merger and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the U.S. entertainment, media and communications (EMC) sector, driven by companies’ need to build presence, scale and digital value chains. According to PwC’s US Entertainment, Media & Communications Deal Insights report, U.S. deal value in 2015 was $149 billion, a 13-percent increase on the year-ago period. Deal volume was down 7 percent to 818. Q4 was one of the slowest M&A quarters in recent history, PwC said.

Digital TV Research has analyzed the fees that Netflix charges in international markets compared to what pay-TV ARPU is in those countries, finding that the rates appear high in the short term. Looking broadly, Netflix charges $8 per month for one screen, $10 per month for two screens and $12 per month for four screens and HD content in its 130 new territories.

A new report from IHS finds that integrating Netflix into traditional pay-TV services has had a net positive impact on these operators’ performance. Netflix has partnerships in place with 25 pay-TV providers, according to IHS, with many more likely to follow after its expansion into 130 new territories last month.

By 2019, more than 50 percent of TV households in Japan, the U.S., the U.K., France and Germany will have smart TVs, according to IHS. The IHS TV Sets Intelligence Service report finds that smart TV household penetration in Japan has already reached 50 percent and will rise to 63 percent in 2019, followed by the U.S. at 57 percent.