The UK’s largest mobile virtual network operator, which has more than 5.8mn customers according to estimates by Enders Analysis, has held initial talks about offering broadband services over Virgin Media O2 and Nexfibre’s fibre networks, according to two people familiar with the matter.

The plans, which are at an initial stage, would revive Tesco’s broadband offering 11 years after it sold its previous broadband service, which comprised 75,000 customers, to rival TalkTalk. Since then, the company has focused on its mobile offering, which has grown from 4.4mn customers in 2015 to 5.8mn this year, according to figures from Enders Analysis, with subscribers drawn to its affordable prices and strong customer service.

Gareth Sutcliffe of Enders Analysis says there is hypothetical potential for that to be exceeded, saying that a "blow out sales scenario" would be "in excess of 50 million units in year one, possibly closing in on 60 million," a figure he describes as "unparalleled."

Gareth Sutcliffe thinks GTA 6 could sell north of 50 million units in its first year.

"The main purpose of Prime (alongside peripheral things like making the overall Prime subscription even more stickier for consumers) is to sell third-party video subscriptions (i.e. Prime Video Channels like Paramount+, Discovery+ etc) and rent films – original Prime content is a hook to get viewers there in the first place," says Tom Harrington of media researchers Enders Analysis.

Enabling self-serve in the U.K. will rapidly expand OpenAI’s advertising demand, but ramping up supply to match growth will be more of a challenge given its more restrictive regulatory environment, according to Claire Holubowskyj, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. 

“This should reinforce pricing in the near term, though ultimately performance will depend on the trust it can establish in its product and attribution,” she said. “Following the same roadmap as the U.S. highlights that their current priority remains building infrastructure scale first, leaving the trickier questions over model and format for later.”

"These are important controls, and it’s encouraging to see Google and the CMA engaging like this, showing the benefits of a flexibly designed regulatory system. Control is an important principle; without it, publishers don’t have leverage."

"Having said that, opting out won’t automatically mean you are in a stronger position. The wider issue is where the search product is going, and these sorts of controls don’t change the direction of travel."

"Google is allowing publishers to make different decisions about how they appear in "AI" versus "non-AI" search features, but the reality is that those two forms of search are converging. So even if you decide to confine yourself to traditional search, you might find that it is a shrinking proportion of the interface. This has impacts for discovery longer-term; for top-of-funnel discovery, you might want a "share of voice" in AI Mode."

“By laying the groundwork for self-serve brand integrations and structuring native ad units aligned to IAB standards, it is aiming to tap into long-tail demand and existing programmatic budgets,” said Claire Holubowskyj, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. “It parallels the shift towards live ad insertion in sports broadcasting and taps into the authenticity created by the presence of advertising in real-world sports, circumventing the challenges of maintaining immersion and seamlessness faced by other games advertising formats.”

“I think the impact on consumers is that it’s definitely going to take longer for them to get fibre than BDUK would have liked,” says Karen Egan at Enders Analysis. “Everything’s going to end up being much, much slower than initially hoped.”

Appearing alongside Dreyfus on the panel, Niamh Burns, a senior analyst at media research firm Enders Analysis, agreed that that sort of data and engagement from OpenAI would be key for the industry going forward.

“The next challenge with these sorts of deals—whether it’s one-on-one deals, whether it’s something more collective—is how can we increase the value. And that has to be linked to usage—there needs to be a real audit trail. With a tiny team that’s never going to be available at scale.”

Speaking at the Enders TMT (Technology, Media and Telecom) Leaders Live conference in London on Thursday, the general manager, Disney+ EMEA stressed that in the U.K., “our grown-up audience is emphatically young – more so than any other streaming platform.” Citing BARB in-home viewing data for the U.K., he said that “almost 40 percent of viewing hours on the Disney+ platform are from 16-34s. That’s higher than the equivalent for Netflix, Prime, Paramount+, Apple TV, or even YouTube.”

Gerhard Zeiler, president, international and Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) and Andrew Georgiou, president & managing director, U.K. & Ireland and sports EMEA at the company, took to the London stage on Thursday at the Enders TMT Leaders Live conference.