The number of subscription homes in Australia continues to rise, standing at 6.8 million individuals (33.4%) in Q3 2009, representing a 5% growth against Q3 2008. In the first half of 2009, subscription TV retained the highest share of viewing of any network across all metros at 23%.

Pay-TV advertising grew by 0.1% to US$126 million for the first six months of 2009 while total TV advertising has declined by 12%. Free-TV figures released in July showed free-to-air TV advertising fell 11.8% in the six months to June. The outlook for the rest of 2009 is more positive for subscription TV revenues, with growth estimated at 5%.

The three major subscription TV players are FOXTEL, Optus and AUSTAR, which together account for the majority of subscription TV homes. FOXTEL controls more than 60% of the market. ASTRA is the industry organization representing over 100 channels on these platforms. OzTAM ratings data for weeks 1-26 shows STV has grown its audience year-on-year by 4.1% across the first 26 weeks of 2009. STV also increased its share of viewing amongst the networks, year-on-year, with the overall STV audience share increasing from 22.2% in weeks 1-26 in 2008 to 23.2% in the corresponding period in 2009.

Until now, OzTAM has held the monopoly on TV audience measurement (conducted by AGB NMR). The OzTAM national subscription panel measures viewing in subscription TV homes (including viewing to free-to-air) whilst the metropolitan panel reports ratings for all TV homes in the five metros. Mid-2009 saw the announcement of a new 10,000 homes return path data service from Multiview Analytics and TNS, which should start reporting later in 2009.

For overview of Australia advertising regulations please go to : http://www.casbaa.com/australia.aspx