Multichannel Television Concentration Indices (1996-2008)

Multichannel Television Concentration Indices (1996-2008)

The Australian film and video production and post-production services industry is made up of more than 2000 establishments most of which are very small in size. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008), in 2007 only 18 of the establishments in the sector employed more than 100 people accounting for 39 per cent of industry employment and 31.3 per cent of income. Included among the larger production establishments are the operations of broadcast and subscription television services producing programming for their own use. The main producers are: Village Roadshow (31.6 per cent of total production expenditure in 2009); Endemol Southern Star (9.8 per cent); GTV Holdings (4.3 per cent) and Beyond International (1.3 per cent). Of these, the latter three are primarily engaged in the production of television programs.

Overall, ABS data indicate that in 2007 productions made primarily for television accounted for more than 72 per cent of all production costs. An additional 13 per cent of production expenditure was devoted to production of television commercials, station promotions and program promotions. Only 14.5 per cent (approximately AUD273 million) was for productions made other than for television. The main components of non-television production expenditure were AUD183.8m for feature films and AUD71.7m for corporate marketing and training media. In 2009, total production expenditure on film and video production amounted to AUD2082 million of which AUD368 million related to feature film production (Screen Australia, 2011). The aggregate production expenditure of the top four producers was 47 per cent of the total (that of the largest producer alone was almost 32 per cent of the total).

The level of activity in feature film production is significantly influenced by foreign film producers. In 2010, total production expenditure amounted to AUD435m of which AUD°69m related to foreign productions. In the period 2001-10, the average annual proportion of production activity funded by foreign producers was 44 per cent, with a peak of 74 per cent in 2004-05 (Screen Australia, 2011). Overall, on average around 30 Australian feature films are produced each year. Foreign production activities usually relate to a very small number of foreign features (2-3 titles a year).

Film distribution is largely the domain of international distributors. In addition to the main international distributors, some 30 small specialised distributors are active in the industry which account for an aggregate market share ranging from seven to 15 per cent in the period covered by the research data. Among the international distributors, the Australian company Village Roadshow in association with Warner Bros has the largest market share. In 2009, 13 percentage points of its total market share were derived from the distribution of its own productions and eight percentage points were related to Warner Bros owned productions. Details are provided in Table 7 and Figure 6.

From relatively modest beginnings as the operator of a drive-in movie theatre in the in the early 1950s, Village Roadshow has grown into an international media conglomerate. Its early expansion involved first acquisition of other drive-in and traditional cinemas. Subsequently, it expanded into film distribution in the 1960s and film production in the 1970s. In 1988 it further broadened its interests with the acquisition of De Laurentis Entertainment followed by the acquisition of theme entertainment parks in Australia including Warner Bros Movie World and Sea World in 1992. In the 1990s it expanded its cinema exhibition operations internationally acquiring cinemas in 20 countries (subsequently scaled back to cinemas in Australia and Singapore). It also further broadened its media interests with the purchase of the Australian Triple M radio network in 1993, which was later transformed into the Austereo Group — the largest commercial radio network in Australia in terms of market share. More recently (February 2008), its Village Roadshow Pictures interests were merged with Concord Music Group to form the diversified Los Angeles-based Village Roadshow Entertainment Group.