Territory focus: Australia: Overview
- Published: 08 October 2008 20:57
- Author: Andy Fry
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- Last Updated: 08 October 2008 20:57
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Although it has a small population, Australia has a vibrant broadcast sector with strong demand for US and UK content.
With 7.4 million TV homes, Australia is a compact but competitive marketplace. A dynamic, free-to-air sector consists of public broadcaster ABC, publicly funded multicultural channel SBS and three free-to-air commercial networks – Seven, Nine and Ten.
ABC gets $840m from the government and tops that up with a small amount of commercial revenue. The three commercial networks are ad-funded. They had a mixed first half of 2008 – with the result that ad revenues rose just 1% to $1.75bn.
That said, distributors can be encouraged by the growth in ad revenue for pay TV and the internet. Media agency OMD forecasts ad revenue for these platforms will increase by 20% and 23% respectively. The largest pay-TV player is Foxtel, with 1.5 million subscribers. Its nearest rival is Austar with 700,000. BBC Worldwide will partner Foxtel to launch BBC Knowledge and CBeebies in 2009.
Viewing shares (Sep 2008)
| Channel | (%) adults |
| Seven Network | 29.4 |
| Nine Network | 26.7 |
| Network Ten | 21.1 |
| ABC | 18.0 |
| SBS | 4.8 |
Prices paid for UK programmes
| Genre | Prices paid |
| Drama | £5,000-£40,000/hr |
| Kids | £600-£2,500/hr |
| Ents | £3,500-£6,000/hr |
| Doc | £2,000-£20,000/hr |
Top UK programmes
| Programme | Channel |
| Dancing with the Stars | Seven Network |
| Australian Idol | Seven Network |
| Ladette to Lady | Nine Network |
| Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares | Nine Network |
| Hell's Kitchen | XYZ Lifestyle |
| Midsomer Murders | ABC |
