You know things are grim in Australia’s TV business when Network Ten boss Paul Anderson, as he did last week, comes out and says the business is “under severe duress“, and new figures out today by industry body Think TV should only add to TV boss’ sleepless nights.

Ad revenues to the free-to-air (FTA) players, SBS, MCN and Foxtel fell by 2.72 per cent to $2.2 billion in the six months to December 2016, Think TV has revealed.

It follows on from Seven’s half-yearly results last week that saw profits tank 91 per cent and doesn’t auger well for Nine CEO Hugh Marks who offers up his company’s half-yearly results tomorrow.

In better news, the Think TV figure showed a 48 per cent increase in advertising-funded video-on-demand (AVOD) – albeit from a small base – to $38.1 million.

The final figures released by Free TV showed national revenue for the three networks was $1.7 billion in the January to June period last year, a drop of 4.3 per cent. Seven enjoyed a 39 per cent market share, Nine 35 per cent and Ten had 25 per cent of the advertising market.

Commenting on the results, Think TV’s Kim Portrate said: “The new Total TV metric is further proof of the industry’s commitment to work collaboratively to provide advertisers and their agencies with a clear view of advertising revenue in the TV sector. It shows a willingness to communicate transparently and clearly with clients and customers to ensure they have the information they need to get the very best out of today’s TV, which is multi-platform, anywhere and anytime.

“We have come together through an unprecedented collaboration between free-to-air and subscription TV and we are delighted that all commercial TV operators, including SBS, have provided their data to allow us to reflect the true scale of advertising on TV.

“Today’s TV is multi-platform, everywhere, anytime and retains unbeatable reach and scale. TV’s premium content makes it the most brand-safe environment for advertisers, its independent third-party ratings system is the gold-standard for audience measurement and repeated studies show that TV delivers a better return-on-investment for brands than any other media.”