Enders News

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on Rupert Murdoch's control of Fox. Claire said having Murdoch run Fox News “seems counterproductive and probably not helpful in sending messages about changes in culture”

Thomas Caldecott was quoted in an article on the Telegraph’s e-commerce strategy business. The Telegraph believes that its habit of creating a substantial amount of travel content and its engaged readership puts it ahead of others. It has built out its e-commerce business for the last 18 months as a way of diversifying revenue streams, and it predicts that e-commerce will overtake advertising as a portion of its total revenue in three to five years. Travel is the most mature commerce sector for The Telegraph. Thomas said “not many U.K. news nationals have pushed far into e-commerce. The potential is there”. He added that One example is MailOnline, which introduced Fashion Finder in 2013 to let readers shop celebrities’ looks. But the Telegraph has long run a large travel supplement in its print edition, so it already has good relationships with travel advertisers and operators.

Alice Enders was quoted in an article on 21st Century Fox, who is prepared to make concessions to U.K. regulators who are scrutinizing its suitability as a media owner, in order to seek government approval for its $15 billion deal for control of Sky Plc. Murdoch’s previous bid for Sky was sunk by a phone-hacking scandal six years ago. Fox is also being investigated by federal prosecutors in the U.S. over whether investors should have been informed about payments the company made to employees to settle sexual harassment allegations. One of the accusers’ lawyers, Lisa Bloom, addressed some Sky investors this week in a meeting hosted by Enders Analysis, the U.K.-based media consulting firm that provides industry research to clients including investment groups. The meeting was attended by a small group of media investors that include HBK Europe Management, Pine River Capital and Pentwater Capital Management. Alice said “there’s no question that what’s been going on has some relevance. All of this is burdening the bid.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on a study conducted by Magnetic and Enders Analysis on direct-advertising. A distinct shift away from longer-term brand marketing towards the more immediate results of activation marketing is damaging the industry. Douglas said "the study shows that brands have gone from the traditional ratio of 40% activation and 60% branding to 50:50. But direct-advertising alone won’t allow brands to retain market share". However, most people in the industry know better, according to McCabe: "they understand that the consumer funnel is more complicated than the last click, that there are multiple touchpoints, and that brand building is a subtle and long-term game". The problem, Douglas explained, is that marketers are being held to quarterly results, their tenures only average around four years, and they just do not have much to gain from the big bet on long-term brand building. He added that "no one company, or part of the value chain, can fix this. We need to get to a stage where the industry agrees that these are the terms for discussion, these are the key issues, this is what we need to do to solve it."

François Godard was quoted in an article on Vivendi’s control on Telecom Italia. On Thursday, the French media and telecoms conglomerate won shareholder approval for its entire slate of 10 candidates to be appointed to a newly formed 15-member board. Vincent Bolloré, the billionaire who controls Vivendi, plans to create a southern European media and telecoms powerhouse, but has already met regulatory opposition. However, some presume Vivendi’s success in taking de facto control of the Telecom Italia board plays to a longer term plan by Mr Bolloré. François said: “I’m impressed by Bolloré’s stealth skills. Telefónica and Deutsche Telekom failed at this before him. This is pure raider behaviour. I see no other strategy than swapping this stake for another one in a bigger target like Orange or Telefónica.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on Adam Crozier’s departure from ITV which has opened up one of the biggest jobs in British media. Claire suggests that ITV may plump for an internal appointment, an option that would have the benefit of ensuring maximum continuity. The obvious internal candidate, therefore, may be Ian Griffiths, ITV’s finance director, who will lead the company on an interim basis alongside Sir Peter Bazalgette, the executive chairman, until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the board. However, he appears to have ruled himself out, even though Claire said: “it may be an arrangement that is very successful. The Bazalgette-Griffiths combination is a tough one to beat”.

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the Murdoch family, which for most of the last 10 years has wanted to complete ownership of the popular and highly profitable Sky satellite and cable network. For James Murdoch, a Sky deal would solidify his hold on a business he’s credited with adroitly expanding to Germany and Italy and into broadband. But there’s something more at stake: “a chance at full corporate redemption,” as Claire Enders put it to me last week, “after his perilously close brush in 2011”. That brush is most closely associated with his testimony that he did not know the extent of the hacking inside the newspaper division that fell under his purview at the time. Nonetheless, 21st Century Fox says it’s confident it will win approval. It’s certainly hoping that regulators will focus on improvements James Murdoch and his brother, Lachlan, have ushered in at the company, like enhanced benefits and a new emphasis on diversity. While some old opponents remain steadfast, like the consumer group Hacked Off, one former opponent, Ms. Enders is not opposed this time. In an interview, Claire pointed to James Murdoch’s successful work in expanding Sky’s business — while placing a large number of women in senior positions — and a speech he gave at a conference in which he spoke warmly about the BBC. Claire said “He’s understood the error of his ways”, adding that he is now “20 times more cautious, anxious, obsessed with the corporate governance of Fox.”

François Godard was quoted in an article on the media reactions to the French Presidential Election. Earlier this month, François Godard, Enders Analysis, published a note saying that a Macron presidency could reshape the French media and telecom corporate landscape, particularly were the state to fully privatize France’s largest telecoms group, Orange. The state still controls 23% of Orange and last year Macron, then Economy Minister, blocked a proposed Bouygues-Orange merger because he opposed Bouygues becoming the largest private sector investor in Orange without paying a control premium. François wrote that the play would change if the state decided to offload its stake, an option contemplated by Macron when in government. He also said it would expect a Macron administration “to demonstrate more independence than its predecessors in the face of a powerful cultural industries lobby.” Macron is committed to a full review of French cultural policies which could result in “a shake-up of the tight regulation of television that diverts content investment into the politically connected film industry to the detriment of other scripted video content.” In contrast, were Le Pen to advance and were she to succeed at the difficult task of pushing ahead with a Frexit, it’s thought the French television and production industry is relatively isolated. François said “there are barriers so that it’s not deeply integrated into a European industry”. Per François’s note - “we think there is a post-populist scenario ready to emerge from the French elections that is worth certainly as much attention as the barbarians-at-the-gate story.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the scandal of Bill O’Reilly which could affect Murdoch’s quest to expand his presence on the European broadcasting scene. In Britain, where James Murdoch has already been faulted by the government for past “failures of corporate governance,” regulators are now wrestling with whether 21st Century Fox would be a “fit and proper” owner of Sky, the pan-European broadcaster that Fox is trying to take over and the Murdoch’s have long coveted. According to some analysts, the agency is limited in what it looks at, and while it does take into account any criminal investigations, the mere fact of sexual harassment lawsuits and settlements at a company is no way disqualifying. Otherwise, Claire said “not one broadcaster would pass the ‘fit and proper’ test. He has seemed in the past to give the top priority to loyalty and ties of employment over corporate governance,” Claire said of the elder Murdoch. But “when things get serious enough, they’ll be weighing how it looks for their business as a whole.”