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For the French Entertainment & Media market, 2009 was a very mitigated year so far as some industries have benefited from the recessionnary economic environment while others have deeply suffered from it.
What can account for these contradictory trends?
Historically, there are some industries that seem to benefit disproportionately from the downturn. For instance, Cinema has reached in 2009 its highest record attendance since 1982, crossing the milestone of 200 million admissions. Revenues reached €1.185 billion, up from €1.114 billion in 2008, according to Dataxis Intelligence’
One of the main reasons for this tendancy is that recession encourages people to turn to “cheaper” entertainment alternatives. Indeed, during these rough times Cinema and Electronic devices can be much more affordable than other Entertainment alternatives such as travels and restaurants, for which consumers have clearly cut their spending.
Consequently, 2009 was also an exceptional year for Consumer Electronics in France, where these products saw a record popularity among consumers, according to M. Benoit Lelièvre, president of the SIMAVELEC. TVs were the most successful devices in 2009, as sales reached 7.3 million units, recording an increase of 21%. This compares with a 2.6% growth in 2008.
Even the French video market saw a slight increase in revenues in 2009. Whereas DVD and Blu-Ray unit sales droped 8% in 2008, they increased 0.5% in 2009, according to the SEVN. Blu-ray sales increased from 1.9 million units in 2008 to 4.5 million in 2009. Although DVD revenues decreased 4% (compared to -10% in 2008), unit sales increased 10% in 2009.
On the other hand, French Pay TV will certainly record good results in 2009 too, as year-to-date revenues in Q3 2009 reached €4.567 billion, up from €4.244 billion in Q308, according to the latest TV revenues figures released by Dataxis Intelligence. Furthermore, preliminary figures from GFK show that VoD market grew to over €80 mln in 2009, up from €53mln in 2008.
In the meantime, Free TV was clearly hit by recession, as advertisers have cut their spending to cope with the recession. Q409 Free TV revenues will be released as part of Dataxis Intelligence’
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