In November, Government watchdog, Ofcom, released shocking figures detailing the expected cost to the consumer of the digital switchover, scheduled for 2008 to 2010.
According to the regulator, late adopters of digital technology will have to pay a collective sum of up to £572 million in order to prepare themselves for the impending digital switchover. The cost to the average household is estimated to be around £137 to ensure that they have all the correct equipment to meet the Government’s proposed switchover deadline between 2008 and 2012 (see
Consumer Costs Of Digital Switchover To Hit £572 Million).
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising’s latest Trends in TV Report showed that, in the third quarter of 2005, share of viewing for non-terrestrial channels reached over 30% for the for the first time, with 60% of households having digital television in various forms (see Multi-Channel TV Viewing Share Hits 30%).
Elsewhere, consumer uptake in digital radio was shown to be increasing at an impressive rate, with figures released by RAJAR showing total listening hours for digital radio to be up by 165% year on year (see Digital Listening Up 165%).
Other technologies discussed by industry bodies during November included a report published by Informa Telecoms and Media, claiming that video on demand (VoD) services would reach one third of homes world-wide by 2010, generating $10.7 billion in revenues (see VoD To Reach One Third Of Homes Worldwide By 2010).
Advertising forecasts for both the US and UK were also released during November, with analyst Merrill Lynch starting the trend, predicting US adspend to rise by 42% in 2005 (see Merrill Forecasts US Adspend To Rise By 4.2% In 2005).
The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) showed online advertising revenues in the US to have reached a total of $3.1 billion in the third quarter of 2005, representing a 33.9% increase compared to the same period last year (see US Online Adspend Surpasses $3 Billion In Q3 2005).
Meanwhile, OPera Media predicted total UK adspend to top £15 billion by 2010, with online advertising expenditure share to reach 10% by 2007 (see UK Adspend To Hit £15 Billion By 2010).
Online advertising is obviously increasing in importance within the media mix, with a report conducted for the ABM by Forrester Research showing that business to business marketers are increasingly shifting their marketing budgets online, and that nearly half of B2B marketers used online marketing tactics this year (see B2B Marketers Shifting Adspend Online).
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