Copyright owners and ad-supported digital content models: more trouble brewing
Highlighting the challenges of the ad-supported digital music model, SpiralFrog, the first licensed service to launch in the US, collapsed recently in a sea of red ink and failed promises
Newly licensed ‘cloud’ jukeboxes like Spotify or We7 are struggling to make sense of the ad-supported model whose licensing costs far outweigh their potential revenue at present |
Media, Music and Radio |
March 2009 Access this report
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Court of Appeal verdict on Sky stake in ITV
The Court of Appeal’s (CA) dismissal of Sky’s second attempt to overturn the Competition Commission’s (CC) decision that it must reduce its 17.9% shareholding in ITV to below 7.5% makes it increasingly probable that Sky will comply with the CC ruling at some point during 2010/2011 |
Media, TV |
January 2010 Access this report
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Cover prices: the old new model
News International’s decision to raise the price of the Sun on Sunday is partly a result of it being seriously under-priced since launch and partly a signal of a broader strategic focus at News International and press generally
With digital revenues not scaling as publishers had hoped and with print advertising continuing its structural decline, newspaper and magazine publishers are finding success with the oldest trick in the book: increasing cover prices to drive up income |
Media, Press |
April 2013 Access this report
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CRR (Cash Withdrawal Machine)
Total TV advertising expenditure is expected to fall between 4% and 7% in 2006. ITV1 will suffer most, with a projected fall in NAR of around 13-14%, but the rest of the TV industry is also starting to feel the pain |
Media, TV |
September 2006 Access this report
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DAB radio - nice platform, shame about the take-up
Consumer take-up both of DAB receiver hardware and of listening to digital-only radio stations has been slow, in spite of considerable investment in content and in transmission infrastructure for the platform by the BBC and commercial radio since 1995 |
Media, Music and Radio |
June 2008 Access this report
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Death of physical media: reports exaggerated
Entertainment software provided on physical disc – CD, DVD, video games – is in terminal decline. Paradoxically, this means that the content industries need to provide more support to the tangible medium, not less. The disc is still a hugely important part of the revenues of the entertainment sector.
Discs provide irreplaceable services. They can be easily bought on impulse, as a gift and for shared use of family and friends. Even dedicated digital buyers still purchase physical discs of the material that has greatest emotional relevance to them. |
Media |
January 2013 Access this report
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Demographic trends – old money and the new media dilemma
The average age of the UK population is increasing by about a month every year, with the median pound of consumer expenditure belonging to a household headed by a 47-year-old.
Households headed by someone aged over 50 account for half of consumer spend on media and communication, a data point that is evidently not reflected in the UK’s marketing communications and advertising patterns. |
Media |
September 2012 Access this report
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Device and Network Convergence
Our last report of the year 2004 covers device and network convergence – a recently resurgent growth story for media, telecommunications and consumer electronics companies. But does it represent any more of a reality, threat or opportunity than before? |
Media |
December 2004 Access this report
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Digital Britain Report: anti-piracy measures
Digital Britain Report’s “Universal Service Commitment” will make high speed broadband ubiquitously available, thus potentially boosting the adoption of illegal file-sharing by UK internet users. However, the government’s goal is to achieve a 70-80% reduction of illegal file-sharing activity |
Media, Telecoms |
June 2009 Access this report
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Digital Britain summit: talk is cheap
Friday’s Digital Britain summit generated more heat than light but nonetheless provided a useful forum for the articulation of the views of government and some other key players
There appears to remain a significant gap between government aspirations for a high speed broadband Britain and the commercial realities. All eyes are now on Wednesday’s Budget to see the extent to which the government is prepared to put its money where its mouth is |
Media, Fixed line, Telecoms |
April 2009 Access this report
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Digital Music Downloading
It was just like the old days. Apple started an online music service, which was immediately well received. Steve Jobs proclaimed loudly that the world would never be the same. Investment banks rushed to assert that digital downloading would save the music companies. Truly gargantuan estimates were made of the potential revenue streams. This note looks at the i-Tunes phenomenon. |
Media |
May 2003 Access this report
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Digital Music Downloads
Our first report of 2005 deals with prospects for music download services to the PC and the mobile handset. |
Media |
January 2005 Access this report
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Digital platform growth post analogue
As Phase 1 digital shift from broadcast analogue to digital nears completion, individual platform growth trends have almost flattened out
The most likely area of change in platform trends over the next ten years concerns basic only subscription pay-TV, where we anticipate an overall increase in the total pay-TV base and change in platform balance arising from the introduction of low price basic packages |
Media, TV |
December 2011 Access this report
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Digital Radio Switchover: somewhere over the rainbow?
For the radio industry, the transition from an analogue broadcast system to a digital one is not going particularly smoothly. Data from the latest RAJAR audience survey, the first to track platform usage, showed that listening to digital radio stations remains stubbornly low. While the television industry has an agreed roadmap that includes a firm date for complete analogue switch-off, the radio industry has yet to determine such a date and appears mired in Ofcom consultations over the future shape of the commercial radio sector. |
Media, Music and Radio |
October 2007 Access this report
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Digital switchover complete, what next?
The completion of analogue switch-off and digital switchover (DSO) has run to schedule, come in under budget and been an unqualified success
The steady progress of digital TV growth over the last 14 years has had limited impact on the status quo of the main broadcasting groups
We expect the status quo to remain stable in the era of digital convergence, while the significance of DSO completion lies in its policy implications for public service broadcasting |
Media, TV |
October 2012 Access this report
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Digital Television in Europe
This report provides our forecasts for the growth rate of digital television homes in Europe over the next three years. We split countries into four groups and predict how the numbers of households with access to digital delivery of television will change in each group. The growth in satellite delivery has slowed considerably during late 2001 and 2002. The digitalisation of cable has stalled almost everywhere. So the only major uncertainty lies in the growth of digital terrestrial homes. |
Media |
December 2002 Access this report
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Digital Terrestrial Television
We think that ITV Digital will eventually be forced to close. What will replace the service on the digital terrestrial spectrum? This note looks at the possible outcomes once the commercial television regulator decides to re-licence the spectrum. |
Media |
April 2002 Access this report
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Digital Terrestrial Television in France
Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) launched in France on 31st March. We expect significant enthusiasm for the wider channel choice available to the 15 million French homes (62%) served only by analogue terrestrial feeds and the roughly 40% of homes that cannot receive a satellite feed. 14 channels were launched on a free-to-air (FTA) basis, and low prices of entry-level STBs have led to brisk sales. |
Media |
April 2005 Access this report
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Digital TV Update
We have published extensively on digital TV in the past 18 months, consistently casting doubt on the potential of TV-centric interactive platforms to (a) generate enough income for operators to repay hardware subsidies and (b) compete with the PC for home shopping activity (t-commerce). |
Media |
May 2001 Access this report
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Disposal headaches at Trinity
Trinity Mirror’s 2007 interim results announcement produced the shock news of an expected £150 million shortfall in its disposals of two regional newspaper divisions and its sports addition |
Media, Press |
August 2007 Access this report
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