TV and film download revenues are expected to grow tenfold from 2006 levels, reaching $6.3 billion in 2012, according to an Informa report (via the Financial Times).

Advertising will consistently outperform a la carte and subscription-based services in terms of revenue generation, and North America will be the largest revenue-generating region, accounting for 65% of the 2012 global total, Informa said.

Revenue by video-sharing sites such as YouTube is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years due to growing broadband penetration, while legal peer-to-peer services will boost internet protocol TV.

However, the report also said online TV is in danger of making the mistakes of the music industry, by hoping that piracy will somehow sort itself out. The music industry did nothing for too long and then resorted to heavy-handed legal action, which has largely proven ineffective.

Only now is the music industry seeing positive results from web-based services, a trend TV content producers can replicate, according to the report.