As media gets increasingly digital, it’s also getting more personal. We’re moving towards a new type of space – one in which we are curating our own universe of media choices and experiences, across different platforms and various devices. We’re seeing consumers create and select what they want to watch or listen to via OTT services – bringing more tailored content in their lives with the use of technology.
In Singapore, this trend holds true. As a case in point, over-the-top (OTT) video is expected to exceed spend in cinema by 2020, and traditional home TV and home video by 2021. The 20th edition of PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook 2019 – 2023, themed ‘Getting personal: Putting the Me in Entertainment and Media’ also expects OTT video to be almost 50% greater than traditional TV and home video by 2023. We’re seeing people move from more passive to active, on-demand media consumption.
And some of the reasons for these changes? For one, consumers are preferring to construct their own ad hoc bundles, buying complementary streaming offerings to cover the full gamut of their tastes and interests. We’re also seeing more active individualised consumption through the rise of technologies such as the smart home – China, for one, will overtake the US to be the largest market for smart speakers in 2021, and is projected to house 156 million devices by 2023.
“The central theme in this growing world of media is that it’s personal and increasingly digital. It’s one that is constructed by the individual for his or her own enjoyment and gratification, delivered through personal devices. Companies are, in turn, tailoring their offerings to reach not at audiences of billions, but at billions of individuals.”
The way we consume media will be fuelled by the rise of 5G, which will establish new means in which media and content are streamed and flowed through to individual users – all leading to a more active, personalised way of media consumption.
“5G’s impact will be felt along the entire TMT value chain over the next decade, fuelling growth in spending on mobile Internet. It will hasten the trend towards personalisation – making it easier, more convenient and cheaper to access E&M on phones and other mobile devices.”
Read on to discover more findings about the E&M industry in Singapore from PwC’s Entertainment and Media Outlook 2019 – 2023.
The onward march for digital revenue
The Asia-Pacific region will be seeing growth – both digitally, and for the E&M industry as a whole – over the next five years. Within that period, China’s absolute growth will exceed that of the US for the first time, with the US adding S$97bn (a 2.5% CAGR over the period 2018 to 2023) and China adding S$115bn (7.7% CAGR).
In Singapore, the growth forecast for the E&M industry will remain at a healthy 3.7%, in line with other mature markets such as Hong Kong (2.3%), New Zealand (3.3%) and Japan (2.1%).
Regional neighbours such as Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines are also growing in line with more developed consumer markets, at 9.4%, 7.1%, and 6.1% respectively.
According to Oliver Wilkinson, Partner and Entertainment and Media Leader, PwC Singapore:
“It’s become cliché to speak of how heterogeneous are the countries of Asia. There are indeed stark differences in the E&M industry across our region, with rapid-growth in Indonesia and mature Singapore. The common denominator across all these markets, however, is the onward march of digital revenue, which is increasingly becoming more important.”
As a case in point, Singapore consumers are forecast to spend twice as much on digital E&M by the year 2023 (up from S$1.05bn in 2018 to reach S$1.9bn five years later). Digital consumer and advertising revenue is also expected to grow at a rate of 11.7% over the next five years reaching S$2.9bn, whereas non-digital is set to decline at a rate of 1.8%.
On local shores, traditional E&M players including publishers, broadcasters and telcos have been moving towards providing more digital services to engage the consumers where they are at. The ease of engaging online is also boosting the presence of native online platforms with more and more publishers going on social media to capture audiences.
Media gets personal and personalised
We’re in a world where we're seeing the convergence of the consumer and the individual experience. Consumers are increasingly mobile, and are empowered to decide how they want to control and experience media. They do so by managing their media consumption via smartphones and an expanding range of devices, by curating their personal selection of channels via OTT services, and by bringing more digital content into their lives with the use of technology such as smart cars and connected cars.
As users are looking for a more personalised experience, we’ve seen OTT video on the rise in Singapore, with revenue expected to grow at a rate of 17.6% (from S$272mn in 2018 to S$611mn in 2023) at the expense of traditional TV and home video which is declining at a rate of 4.9% (from S$513mn in 2018 to S$399mn in 2023).
Not only will OTT consumer spending surpass traditional TV and home video in Singapore for the first time in 2021, it is expected to be over 50% greater than traditional TV and home video by 2023.
In this personalised world, companies need to be able to reach individuals at the point of consumption, while being able to anticipate their customers’ needs with the help of AI-enabled, algorithm-driven playlists and recommendations.
Isolation... or socialisation?
While today’s media consumption gets more personalised, it could also appear as being more isolated. Movies, for example, can be watched by an audience of one on the laptop, or mobile phone; music can be listened to on the go – whether on the train, or in an elevator. On-demand streaming allows viewers to start or stop a final episode of a particular series, whenever they feel like.
However, there is a social aspect of how we consume media today. Media is used as an enabler for social interaction – consumers still prefer personal views and recommendations from real people, friends, and those within their social networks to discover new content. In fact, consumers are still dissatisfied with the AI-powered recommendations from their streaming services, according to PwC’s report, A new video world order.
This is one of the reasons why there has been a rise in digital streaming music players such as Spotify – the ability for people to socialise, share playlists, and discover new tunes through curated content has become key. Subscription-based music streaming services in Singapore is at 15.3% CAGR, which brings forecasts for the music industry back into the green. The segment as a whole, is expected to experience a 6.7% growth over the next five years, with 2023 revenues projected at S$170mn.
What this means for E&M players
- It’s all about ROX
- Addressing privacy and building trust
- A new era of personalised computing
- Evolving your business
It’s all about ROX
Knowing your customer and their preferences is as important as offering the right content. Companies that succeed are the ones that understand consumers as complex individuals who want to consume media on their own terms.
Consumers today not only have their own personal E&M media consumption profile that is tailored to their own individual needs – they’re also discerning and powerful, meaning that more organisations need to invest further in customer experience. Measuring return on experience (ROX) will help companies understand the earnings on investments that are directly related to how people interact with their brand.
Addressing privacy and building trust
With the vast amount of data that we’re all consuming on a daily basis, it is important to not only protect data, but to also address privacy concerns. Protecting personal data has steadily become, and will continue to be a central player as consumers push to be at the own world of their media experiences.
The concept of trust has also become a strategic theme for many of the companies in the E&M world. In today’s highly connected world where sentiment can spread like wildfire, a single incident can cause severe damage to a brand’s reputation. Every interaction with a consumer (whether offline or online) has the potential to either build or ruin trust.
A new era of personalised computing
The smart use of data algorithms and AI will spur E&M companies to enhance the many products and services they offer, or introduce entirely new ones. AI has the ability to better understand people’s individual tastes and consumption history – enabling them to discover tailored content users would find most compelling.
However, there is currently room for improvement and opportunities. PwC’s report A new video world order shows that there is a relatively high level of dissatisfaction when it comes to AI powered recommendations that consumers currently receive from video-streaming services. Many are frustrated at how reactive (and not predictive) these algorithms are.
Evolving your business
Operating models that once contributed to success in the past are no longer fit for the future. This would invariably mean transforming your business model – for instance, moving from content aggregation to content production, the way Netflix or Amazon has done. It could also mean offering differential pricing – going beyond the ‘freemium’ or ad-funded models, to even bridging entirely different worlds, such as with Spotify connecting the offline and online world together with its ‘Concert’ feature. The music streaming service now generates a personalised list of concerts that are happening nearby, based on a user’s taste profile, which also powers its music recommendations.
About PwC’s Entertainment & Media Outlook 2019 – 2023
PwC’s 20th annual edition of the Global Entertainment & Media Outlook is a comprehensive online source of global analysis for consumer and advertising spending. With like-for-like, five-year historical and five-year forecast data and commentary for 14 defined industry segments in 53 territories, the Outlook makes it easy to compare and contrast consumer and advertising spending across segments and territories. Find out more at www.pwc.com/outlook.
