Canadian entertainment and media revenues are expected to grow by 2.8% through 2021, according to PwC’s Global Entertainment and Media Outlook report.

That 2.8% is a slowdown from the 3.5% industry growth seen last year, and also lags overall global economic growth for the next five years. According to the report, Canadian entertainment and media revenues will rise to US$49.4 billion in 2021 from US$42.98 billion in 2016.

In Canada, SVOD, internet advertising and OOH top the list for growth in the next five years.

Canada continues to have an advanced internet ad business, valued at US$4.4 billion in 2016. An early adopter of internet video, Canada is expected to see growth of 7.1% in the category through the next five years, according to the report. Internet video is predicted to produce revenues of US$1.6 billion in 2021, with over 70% of that revenue coming from subscription-based VOD services and transactional sites like Apple’s iTunes accounting for the remainder.

Canada’s total OOH revenue in 2016 was US$572 million, which was up from US$436 million in 2012, according to PwC’s numbers. OOH growth in the market is expected to continue at 5.1% through 2021, reaching US$732 million that year. Globally, PwC predicts that physical OOH will slip into decline in 2019, with a growing share of ad spend being shifted to digital OOH.

In addition to the Canadian industry forecasts, the PwC report also marks the passing of some major digital milestones.

Internet advertising now generates more revenue than TV does globally, a tipping point that was reached in 2016 (PwC first reported that Canada had reached that milestone in 2014). Advanced largely by growth in mobile, the online ad lead is expected to continue to grow in the next five years.

Also according to PwC, global newspaper circulation revenue overtook ad revenue for the medium in 2016. While circulation has been on a downward trajectory since 2015, publishers have been able to adjust cover prices to offset the fall in units.

Looking ahead, PwC predicts that virtual reality video revenue will overtake interactive application and gaming revenue in 2019. According to the report, the consumer virtual reality content market will grow by 77% over the next five years to be worth US$15.1 billion by 2021. Of that, US$8 billion will be spent on VR video.

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