Subscription TV ad revenue approaching $400m

Tim Burrowes

February 15, 2012 11:56

Australia’s 200 subscription TV channels bring in about 10% of the advertising revenue of Free TV, new figures from pay TV body ASTRA suggest.

According to data for the second half of 2011, advertising on subscription TV grew by 3.75% to nearly $213.6m compared to 2010.

During the same period, the free to air networks brought in just under $2.1bn according to data released by Free TV earlier this month – a drop of about 4%.

The revenue stats – compiled by Ernst & Young for the subscription TV industry – cover channels on both Foxtel and Austar, which are currently awaiting regulatory approval for a merger.

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Tim Burrowes

Tim Burrowes is the publisher of Mumbrella and Unmade. He co-founded Mumbrella in 2008 and sister title Unmade in 2021. He's worked in the UK, Middle East, Asia & Australia and has specialised in writing about the communications world for the last 25 years. He wrote the book Media Unmade, published in 2021, and became the presenter of MediaLand on ABC Radio National in 2025.

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3 COMMENTS

Gezza 15 Feb 12

This is a bad result for pay TV.

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agency guy 15 Feb 12

10% is still too low given the share of viewing STV takes.

Fair enough its slightly cheaper to buy so you can’t pro rata viewing to spend, and not strictly relevant if your running regional (ie ESB only), but realistically you should be working to a minimum of 25% of (National) spend – more against some audiences – if you aren’t, you’re not buying TV properly.

(no I don’t work for MCN, Ignite or any other STV ad sales team)

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Me 15 Feb 12

This is why I cancelled Foxtel last month.

Why was I paying for an endless stream of funeral and life insurance garbage? It was insulting.

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