Updated November 13, 2018 08:50:59 The Australian Communications and Media Authority has announced that its latest report into media and telecommunications industry conditions shows the sector is in a “state of crisis”.
The agency’s report released on Tuesday is based on its annual media consumption survey, conducted between February and November.
In its annual report, published in December, the agency said there was a significant decline in consumer engagement and the rate of new subscription growth.
“The digital economy is changing the way Australians consume content, but this shift is not yet happening in all media.
We expect to see more digital-first experiences emerge as people become more mobile, social and connected,” the agency stated.”
This is particularly important for younger audiences, who are already more digital savvy.”
The agency also noted the increasing reliance on tablets and smartphones for content consumption.
“Digital media is now becoming more important than ever for our digital consumers, as their media consumption patterns are changing and they will increasingly need to be connected,” it stated.
The agency noted there were some positives to the state of the media sector, with consumer satisfaction up significantly from the previous year.
“While many of these improvements are visible on the overall media consumption measure, we are concerned that the consumer satisfaction measure remains in a weak position in 2017,” the report stated.
In addition to consumer satisfaction, the survey showed that there were also strong increases in the number of people saying they would recommend a service to friends and family.
“We are encouraged that people are making the switch to a new way of consuming media, and are increasingly willing to recommend content to friends or family,” the association noted.
“However, there are still significant challenges to meeting this demand, particularly for younger consumers who are more mobile and social, and for people in rural and remote areas who have lower penetration.”
The report also highlighted a number of problems the media industry faces, including lack of diversity in media content, low user engagement and lower access to online services.
“There are a number issues in the media business, and we want to address them,” the ACMA’s chief executive officer Paul Martin said in a statement.
Topics:media,consumer-finance,australia