Online advertising will register a 14.6 percent compounded annual growth (CAGR) in the next four years, and could reach USD 141 million by 2018, according to PwC estimates. This makes online advertising the fastest growing segment of the Romanian media and entertainment market in the analyzed period.

The internet access segment, which represents money spent by people and companies for internet access, including fixed broadband connections, mobile internet and internet apps, will have the second highest growth, with a 9.9 percent CAGR and could reach USD 1.18 billion by 2018.

Internet access and online advertising will account  for more than 40 percent of the Romanian media and entertainment market by 2014, with TV subscriptions trailing a distant second, with an estimated USD 612 million by 2018. Overall, the Romanian media and entertainment market will register a 5.2 percent CAGR, reaching USD 3.1 billion by 2018, according to this year’s edition of PwC’s study Entertainment and Media Outlook.

The evolutions of the different segments will be very uneven, with magazine publishing falling from USD 95 million in 2009 to only USD 25 million in 2018 (a CAGR of -12.5 percent), as well as decreases in expenditure for music purchases and out-of-home advertising (-9.7 percent and -1.7 percent CAGR respectively).

While the Romanian entertainment and media market is set to grow at a steady pace in the next 5 years, it will remain the smallest market in the region in terms of overall value, with USD 3.1 billion, compared with Russia (UAS 42 billion), Turkey (USD 17.5 bln), Poland (USD 12.6 bln), Czech Republic (6.5 USD bln), and Hungary (USD 3.2 bln).

Andrei Chirileasa, andrei@romania-insider.com