Enders Analysis said 2025 had been “a somewhat stable year” for Channel 4, helped by a better advertising performance than ITV after three years in which the reverse had been true. However, it warned that the broadcaster now faces a volatile advertising market with its lowest cash reserves in more than 20 years.
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Enders Analysis was mentioned in the Financial Times on "The benefits of an investment bubble"
21 May 2026At the last count, the “altnets” posted losses of more than £1.5bn in 2024, according to Enders Analysis. After accumulating some £9bn of net debt as of 2025, some companies have already been placed into administration, while others have fallen into the hands of lenders.
Vodafone: Optimism takes a trim
20 May 2026The share price reaction to Vodafone’s FY26 results appears to be centred around the outlook for European EBITDAaL in FY27, with consensus hitherto optimistically expecting a very marked turnaround in underlying performance.
Similarly, there should not have been an expectation of further buybacks, with prospective leverage towards the top of target range given recent deals.
Vodafone’s value over volume strategy cost it dearly in subscriber numbers in Q4 – a dangerous strategy in a scale industry. Less demanding guidance would give it more commercial flexibility
Channel 4: Time for reset
20 May 20262025 was a somewhat stable year for Channel 4, with revenue generally flat (–1%, to £1,027 million), bolstered by a better advertising performance (–2%, to £922 million) than ITV, after three straight years of the reverse.
There was growth in non-advertising revenue, although it still remains a small contributor—10% of the total— but Channel 4’s production efforts are gradually taking shape while its IP acquisition strategy is moving faster. Remit delivery continued to outperform.
With new leadership in place, the future remains tricky: a volatile ad market must be navigated with the lowest cash reserves in over twenty years.
Tom Harrington, head of Television at Enders Analysis, said Sky sees ITV as a second platform to show already aired on the satellite broadcaster, “potentially at the expense of current levels of new ITV programming. Whatever the initial intention, this will inevitably occur to some extent.”
Harrington added: “Gangs of London or (Sky comedy) Brassic might actually be a supportive complement to (ITV’s) Trigger Point and Midsomer Murders, and an altogether better outcome for Sky than their current onward destination, Netflix.” Those shows could be marketed prominently on ITV and generate more advertising revenue there than on Netflix.
Abi Watson, head of publishing at media analysis firm Enders, said the medium-term play isn’t really about productivity, but what new product categories AI makes possible. “Where AI shortens the cycle from idea to a launched paid product — [like] a new newsletter tier, a verticalized data product, an agentic research interface for subscribers, a B2B agent licensing line — the upside is real because it’s tied to subscription or enterprise revenue rather than internal efficiency,” she said.
Claire Enders was quoted in The Times on Matt Brittin: new BBC boss asked Gordon Brown about ‘thankless’ job
18 May 2026“There are ferocious negotiations going on, on really fundamental issues — for instance whether the BBC will take advertising on its website, iPlayer or somewhere else,” said Claire Enders, founder of the media research company Enders Analysis. “These fundamentals have yet to be hammered out, and it’s a negotiation with the Treasury as well. The BBC has never walked out of a charter process without more to do for less.”
UK Altnets: The ARPU growth mirage
18 May 2026Altnet ARPUs are much lower than those of BT and VMO2, the premium-brand incumbents, but not so much lower than TalkTalk, and they are not rising appreciably over time.
Altnet ARPU is generally much lower than premium-brand incumbents both because their prices are lower, and because of the type of customers that low prices attract. Maturity will not solve these issues.
With incumbent and altnet pricing remaining low, there appears to be little potential for the altnets to meaningfully improve ARPUs, leaving their economics fatally stretched.
Studios revenue growth (+4% year-on-year, to £400 million) balanced advertising decline, which dragged Media and Entertainment down 2% (to £477 million): total revenues were flat YoY. Viewing has been poor to start 2026, but there is a World Cup approaching.
ITV’s total advertising revenue (TAR) was down 1.5% in Q1 to £416 million, with digital ad revenues up 14%. ITV expects Q2 to improve 10% YoY.
With the acquisition of ITV M&E appearing close, the ramifications of the change of ownership for ITV’s output is a nuanced consideration.