Ben Keen has the numbers
Netflix is now investing more on content than the BBC, according to Ben Keen, chief analyst, IHS Technology.
Speaking at a session entitled The story behind the numbers and presenting data produced by IHS, he added that Netflix was also outspending Discovery though not Sky, with the latter’s figures impacted by the high cost of sports rights.
Keen also noted the largely unrecognized high spend of content by Amazon.
However, it was easy to get carried away with the OTT video market, which is still relatively small compared to traditional TV.
Keen identified the close correlation between the level of spend of content at Netflix and its subscriber base. Growth in one had closely tracked growth in the other.
Although Netfix currently allocates less than 20% of its content spend on local productions, this figure is set to rise.
Commenting on global online video revenues, Keen said that they will more than double by 2018, driven by subscriptions and advertising. There are already over 40 million SVOD subscriptions in EMEA, half of which are for standardised online services.
Looking at the cable market in Europe, Keen said that it had almost doubled in size in the last 10 years, adding €12 billion in value. In Western Europe, revenues had risen from €12.2 billion in 2004 to €20.6 billion in 2014, while in Central and Eastern Europe the respective totals were €1.5 billion and €5 billion.
Although cable operators have been losing subscribers, the industry as a whole has been growing. While this has been helped by a big shift to digital, cable is about more than TV and almost 50% of operators’ revenues now come from the internet and telephony.
This has been accompanied by growth in ARPU and there has also been a drive to roll out DOCSIS 3.
