Recently awakened sleeping giant Amazon is using its vast resources to ramp up an aggressive open web stance, offering advertisers low take rates through its DSP.

Adtech firms risk destroying their own margins in response, so are increasingly extending their positions across the value chain as they compete to offer ‘end-to-end’ services.

2026 will be make or break for the agency holding company model as Omnicom resets and WPP’s need to see the benefits of its turnaround becomes urgent.

CityFibre is progressing well on subscriber growth and EBITDA, albeit consolidation is going much more slowly than we (and likely they) expected.

Recent developments point to altnet consolidation accelerating in 2026, with CityFibre and VMO2 still by far the most likely acquirors.

The impact on the rest of the sector is that some much-needed relief to the retail broadband market is likely, albeit with altnet wholesale gains accelerating

Q4 saw Netflix’s revenue grow 18% YoY (to $12.1 billion), with the subscription base growing 8% across the year. Advertising is now a $1.5 billion business, which is around 3% of total revenues

In the past, Christmas and New Year has been a time for Netflix to make considerable and important gains in the UK, this progression has now stalled

As the fight to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery lurches on, Netflix’s interest in the theatrical business is being scrutinised. The relationship between the cinema and Pay 1 window will inform its strategic direction

Apple News now reaches c.14m monthly users in the UK, making it one of the largest news distribution environments by scale. This reach is driven by default placement on iOS and editorial curation, rather than open-platform referral dynamics.

We estimate there are c.1.7m Apple News+ subscriptions in the UK thanks to Apple One bundling, enabling users to access premium journalism via a subscription they already pay for. News+ revenues are particularly valuable for publishers without strong standalone subscription engines.

Publishers face a clear trade-off: Apple News drives real but bounded reach and revenue, but deepens dependence on a gatekeeper with opaque rules, limited data, and growing power over discovery.

European service revenue growth dipped to -0.5% in Q3 as SFR’s woes took their toll and ongoing pressure in Germany weighed.

The more constructive pricing environment in Germany was short-lived, with O2 stepping up its aggressiveness since September.

For some, competitive intensity is worsening ahead of a consolidation solution, but the Italian and Spanish markets are showing healthier signs.

The Champions League is further increasing its share of the total value of European football media rights.

In Spain, LaLiga has extended its partnerships with Telefónica and DAZN until 2032.

Ligue 1’s direct-to-consumer service needs partners if the French league’s rights are to return to the value of its previous cycle.

DMGT is requesting regulatory clearance of its merger with Telegraph Media Group (TMG) from the Secretary of State for DCMS. If successful, TMG, a quality brand mainly sold on subscription, will join DMG Media. TMG already outsources print ad sales to Mail Metro Media and printing to Newsprinters (News UK/DMGT).
 

DMGT’s offer of £500 million for TMG is good news for the UK news industry. DMGT’s valuation of TMG at 8x EBITDA is well above the valuations produced by private equity (PE) funders. PE is a short-term form of financial engineering ill-suited to TMG in the middle of its print-to-digital transition and transformation.
 

TMG will gain an owner in DMGT that espouses a long-term vision of investment in consumer media. Each news brand produces its own content to serve and retain their audiences. Lord Rothermere practices the principle of editorial independence of each brand to protect each one’s identity.

The UK broadcasting sector is undecided on how much to engage with a technology that could simultaneously threaten industry jobs, intellectual property, and competitive advantages. Some do not see themselves as in a position to take risks with AI, but the sector must consider the longer-term risks to inaction.

There is clear value to be unlocked along the production pipeline with AI, and unrealised opportunities for content owners to apply AI to their libraries and enhance discovery.

None in the industry can ignore how AI changes the wider competitive landscape: new AI services will provide audiences with alternative products, and disrupt distribution.

The expected service revenue boost from in-contract price increases failed to materialize this quarter, nullifying the upside surprise last quarter.

Traffic growth picked up again to 17%, lending further weight to the view that at least some of the recent sharp slowdown was somewhat one-off in nature.

Government statistics imply steep mobile price inflation while the opposite is true—which may help to diffuse the current furore over in-contract price increases.

The centre of gravity for kids’ media has shifted. YouTube now captures around 44% of UK children’s viewing, with broadcasters adapting to stay relevant in an environment built around algorithmic discovery and constant replay.

Alongside the BBC, YouTube is one of the few spaces where education and entertainment intersect. Around a third of our sample of 5–8s YouTube Kids videos were educational, while older cohorts gravitate toward faster, creator-driven formats.

There remains a distinction between YouTube and broadcaster kids’ programmes: we found YouTube-native content twice as fast, and brighter, although the broadcast content that also runs on YouTube shows less disparity. Broadly, on YouTube, US-originated formats dominate.