The industry has spoken – anonymously – in an opinion piece we have received from an industry player.

For the past five years, the industry has been listening to experts talk about TV billings dropping in favor of VOD or digital video taking the lead. What we have seen, in reality, is TV’s retaliation with new, expensive content – and living in denial.

Looking at some recent figures and media numbers, the industry has the right to react this way. The estimated total industry billings in 2014 were $3.5 billion (US), out of which 40 percent was on TV billings and only 13 percent on digital. Press, on the other hand, is falling apart and going down year-on-year by a minimum of 15 percent, while most TV stations are either maintaining their billings or even growing by one single digit, thus keeping the biggest share of the pie.

This year, however, things have changed. This is the first year where we will witness a game-changer. Based on my (anonymous) estimation, there will be a ten percent dip in TV billings from 2014.

TV networks should start thinking about their current business model and consider getting out of their comfort zone.

If the above numbers are valid and digital video demand is growing, then TV is actively losing its budget to digital.

But how did TV networks end up in this situation?

Digital TV offers new data that justifies the need for digital video and the incremental reach this type of content can offer clients. Google started the trend and, now, Facebook, with its effective reach, is taking the market to another level. All this while, in our market, the linear TV industry is still debating telemeter research and company data providers.

If TV stations do not act fast on the long-awaited data meter research, they will lose all their budgets to YouTube, Facebook and other digital video platforms over the next five years.

Hopefully, they realize this before it’s too late.