TELEVISION AD-SALES’ REVENUES DROP IN SPAIN

Revenues derived from television advertising reached €392,4 million during the first quarter of 2020 in Spain, registering a 9,5% drop compared to the same period of the previous year. This setback could be explained, in large part, by the beginning of the state of alarm decreed in the country due to the Covid-19 crisis.

According to these latest data from the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), the two main television groups, Mediaset and Atresmedia, concentrated 84,4% of television advertising revenues.

●  PAY TV: REVENUES AND NUMBER OF SUBSCRIBERS

During Q1 2020, pay TV billing registered drops in practically all transmission media. In detail, IP pay TV had a turnover of almost €400 million, 1,2% less than the previous year, and remained the technology with the highest income. In second place was satellite TV (80,8 million and a decrease of 23%) and, in third place, cable TV (40,7 million and a decrease of 6,6%).

At the same time, in the period studied, the total number of pay TV subscribers stood at 7,8 million; and the two technologies with the most users were IP TV (offered through fiber and xDSL networks), with 4,7 million subscribers, and cable TV, with 1,3 million.

● CONSUMPTION BY PLATFORM

Consumption of both free-to-air and pay television was distributed by 75,1% for DTT, 1,7% for satellite television and 23,2% for cable TV and IP platforms. If the figures are compared with previous years, a progressive decline is observed in the consumption data for DTT and, above all, for satellite, compared to the increase experienced by cable TV and IP services. This redistribution is related to the increase in pay TV subscriptions in Spain, especially through fiber networks.

Average television consumption was 231 minutes (3 hours and 51 minutes) per person and day. These data reflect an increase of 20 minutes per viewer/day compared to the previous quarter, and of 8 minutes compared to the same quarter of 2019.

By groups, Mediaset and Atresmedia were the leaders, obtaining 28,2 and 26,3 quarterly audience share points, respectively. The most viewed channels were Telecinco, Antena 3 and La 1, with audiences of 14,2%, 11,6% and 9,8%, respectively.