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Enders Analysis provides a subscription research service covering the media, entertainment, mobile and fixed telecommunications industries in Europe, with a special focus on new technologies and media.

Our research is independent and evidence-based, covering all sides of the market: consumers, leading companies, industry trends, forecasts and public policy & regulation. A complete list of our research can be found here.

 

Rigorous Fearless Independent

This report is free to access

Trump II is already proving to be a more serious threat to an independent, robust news media than Trump I.

Trump’s direct power around news media is limited, but the threat comes from an unprecedented politicisation of federal regulators, enforcement and procurement—to favour friends and punish enemies.

Opposition to Trump II is weaker and more divided than the broad ‘resistance’ to Trump I. Big tech companies are going for a close embrace, hoping to steer policy to their advantage—while others bend the knee to avoid punishment.

2024 was a stabilising year after a troubling 2023— Channel 4's revenue was up 1% and it ended the year with a much smaller deficit, although aided by a drop in both overall and original content spend.

Facing slightly uncertain conditions, the broadcaster continues to be over-exposed to the advertising market —91% of revenues—meaning its thoughtful move into production and acquisition is necessary and should be supported.

Channel 4’s presence in streaming continues to grow but struggles to mask the continued drop of 16-34 viewing share. Online success owed much to the increasing influence of foreign library content—this commanded increased spend in 2024.

“KKR wants to send a message that scale will bring higher margins,” says François Godard, a senior media analyst at Enders Analysis. “The M&A scene will continue to be dynamic, so we can expect Mediawan to keep growing.” The company refinanced last year, raising a €500 million loan and a €225 million revolving credit facility, which analysts say will fund acquisitions. D’Arvieu says Mediawan is unlikely to embark on a shopping “frenzy”, but will instead target partners that share the same “artistic vision as us”.  

Pay TV gets the word out, too, with Sky’s coverage undoubtedly excellent, their funds having helped orchestrate England’s World Cup wins and more. The media research firm Enders Analysis reported last year that “young viewers now consume nearly half of their sports through Sky … which refutes the widely held view that young people don’t watch sport behind a paywall”.

“Is Sky facing a slow death? No,” says Claire Enders, the founder of Enders Analysis. “They have survived 13 years against the likes of Neftlix spending enormous amounts of money and it is not like their model has been unseated, it has just had to change.

“It has been an incredibly tough market, and there are more TV options than ever before, and Sky is investing very heavily in a number of strategies to reduce dependency on content now on streaming services.

“You can say they have been through the worst already and come out the other side, the business has stabilised and is being set up for the very long term.”

As Enders Analysis’ senior research analyst Jamie MacEwan put it, direct response is over 60% of online ad spend, and focusing on the technology and partnerships to cater to this demand is a recurring theme across ad platforms. Pinterest’s own efforts, which span improvements to its visual search capabilities as well as launching its own AI-campaign tool Performance+, are starting to bear fruit.

“The industry needs to move beyond a binary subscription-or-advertising model,” said Enders Analysis senior analyst Abi Watson. “Programs like this let publishers monetize their most valuable users in more sophisticated ways.”

“[The Leadership Institute] delivers two things for the Journal: a reputational halo effect and increased customer lock-in, especially for corporate subscriptions,” Watson said. “It creates more predictable annual cash flow while deepening ties with influential business audiences.”

US tariffs and regulations are sparing no one in 2025—Microsoft, the ‘winner’ of the earnings quarter, is still making plans to protect its European business in a doomsday scenario.

Hyperscalers who have piled their eggs into cloud cannot afford a misstep—this is driving record capex to satisfy cloud demand. We expect to see lumpiness in Q2-Q3, feeding investors’ worries.

Revenue impacts have been felt first at US retail, softening ad demand, with the UK relatively protected for now. Despite relief at the 90-day ‘reset’ with China, economic and political uncertainty remains the story of the year.