What you need to know: 

• Total TV revenue across Australia's major commercial broadcasters has continued to rise, reaching $4.27 billion in the 12 months to 30 June 2022. 
• BVOD grew 53.3 per cent in FY21 compared to the prior financial year. 
• But while still growing, the rate of growth in TV advertising revenue is slowing. 

Advertising revenue across Australia’s major television networks rose by 10.8 per cent to $4.27 billion in the 2021 financial year, with broadcast video on-demand (BVOD) jumping 53.3 per cent to $426 million. 

Those are the results from the latest figures released by ThinkTV, showing six and 12-month TV advertising revenue to the end of June 2022.

BVOD – platforms like 7plus, 9Now, 10 Play, Foxtel Go, Foxtel Now and Kayo – are accelerating, ThinkTV CEO Kim Portrate said, and they are likely to keep outpacing the growth in online video competitors like YouTube.

But there are signs the growth of Total TV – and BVOD – are slowing down.

While year-on-year growth for the full financial year across Total TV rose 10.8 per cent, ad spend on television in the first half of this year was $2.02bn, up 7 per cent year-on-year. That’s down from 14.4 per cent growth in the second half of last year and down from 27.2 per cent growth in the first half of 2021, as illustrated below.

“In the last 12 months, advertiser support for Total TV has gone from strength to strength. Despite – or perhaps because of – difficult conditions and continuously evolving audience behaviours, more and more advertisers are turning to proven media to drive their business growth,” Portrate said in a statement.

But while BVOD revenues continue to grow at strong double digits, it has also seen a slowdown, at 43.9 per cent growth year-on-year in the first half of 2022 - down from 74.8 per cent growth year-on-year in the same half last year.

On the topic of BVOD spend, Portrate said: “BVOD remains Australia’s fastest growing media channel and for good reason: it offers reach, scale and effectiveness. More advertisers are coming to understand BVOD’s power to shift sales just as more consumers are live streaming TV content more often. Given that, BVOD’s growth is poised to continually outpace online video competitors in the coming months and years.”