The Romanian entertainment and media market has shown signs of stabilization, after recording sluggish growth in the last two years and should record a yearly growth of 8.8 percent until 2015, according to a recent report published by PwC. The value of the market will increase from USD 2.5 billion in 2010 to USD 3.8 billion in 2015, according to the report.

Most of the increase will come out of the growth of the Internet access segment, which will grow on average by 12.9 percent, while advertising spending will register a compound annual growth rate of 8.9 percent. However, consumer spending on media products will be the slowest growing market segment, with an average growth rate of 4.7 percent.

The Romanian media and entertainment market will be the third fastest growing the region after those of Turkey (an average growth rate of 13.2 percent) and Russia (11.7 percent), but ahead of Poland (7.1 percent), the Czech Republic (6.8 percent) and Hungary (6.2 percent). However, in absolute terms, the Romanian market will remain the smallest in the region, being approximately one tenth of the value of the Russian market (USD 35.7 billion by 2015).

“It’s the golden age of the empowered consumer, with the demand for digital experiences increasing and becoming the norm. In many markets, the entertainment and media industry emerging from the recession has been profoundly changed as the ongoing consumer migration to digital has accelerated due largely to the device revolution”, stated Bogdan Belciu, Partner, Advisory, PwC Romania.

2010 saw the global economy begin to recover from its steep decline in 2009 and these improved economic conditions have played a major role in the recovery of overall entertainment and media spending, which rose by 4.6 percent.

“In the context in which the consumer has access to so many environments that offer free content, CEOs in entertainment and media have to adapt their business models to capture the shifting nature of consumer demand. The bottom line is that in order to continue to create quality content, and deliver it over the internet, someone has to pay”, added Belciu.

Many consumers increasingly expect content to be free. Convincing people to pay will be difficult and require a deep understanding of what consumers’ value. Convenience, experience and quality are the key ingredients that matter to consumers when choosing from the menu of content and delivery channels available. Alongside these sit participation and privilege. Consumers enjoy playing an active role in shaping their content plus they are happy to pay for privileges which enable them to “jump the queue” to get earlier access to content. The challenge for companies is to turn these five attributes – convenience, experience, quality, participation and privilege - into sustainable, profitable and engaged relationships with the consumer by offering advantages which outweigh the attractiveness of free or pirated content, according to PwC.

To get the full PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Entertainment & Media outlook 2011-2015, go here.

editor@romania-insider.com

(photo source: Sxc.hu)