Aussie pay TV content spend nears A$800m

Australian pay TV content investment hit A$796 million (US$560.1 million) in 2014/15, new figures show.

The record spend was reflective of “the unprecedented desire of Australian audiences to watch Australian stories”, according to Andrew Maiden, CEO of Australian Subscription Television and Radio Association, which released the data.

The figure included a record A$25 million in factual programming to coincide with the World War I ANZAC landing at Gallipolli, which has spawned shows such as Deadline Gallipolli, The Memorial:

Beyond the ANZAC Legend, Abalone Wars and Coast Australia.

“Audience research shows a renewed interest in local content, making Australian production a key differentiator for the subscription television industry at a time when new streaming services are entering the market,” said Maiden.

“This year’s expenditure brings to US$6.5 billion the value of our total investment in the Australian production sector in the past decade.”

Sport represented the largest genre on Australian subscription television, with 23,180 hours of first run Australian content broadcast during the 2014/15 period.

ASTRA members such as Foxtel, Viacom International Media Networks, Turner Broadcasting System and Fox International Channels exported more than 13,119 hours of local programming.

Furthermore, subscription channels produced more than 1,243.