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James Barford was quoted in The Times on We’ve never trusted Huawei but the risk is limited, says spy chief. James said that such a cap could also be damaging for the consumer. “The smallest of the four mobile operators in revenue terms is Three. It seems harsh to be disrupting the business model of a challenger in the market."
Car transactions are down for the third consecutive year and consumer demand is dramatically shifting (away from diesel and towards alternative fuels), but the marketing expenditure on used cars remains robust overall. Auto Trader has extended its leading position as the largest used car portal, so far shielded from the structural headwinds affecting its core customer group of dealerships. Several disruptors have entered the UK automotive space in the past couple of years, but none have gained real traction in the listings space, instead opting for ancillary approaches. Tech disruption will come, but much longer term.
The speeds made possible by full fibre build are unnecessary for most users in the short term, giving limited commercial advantage to those that can offer them, but are likely to prove essential in the medium/long term.
The economics of full-scale, independent alternative networks look very challenging in our view – especially without the support of Sky – although there are some limited arbitrage/cherry-picking opportunities.
The Openreach full fibre model makes economic sense under Ofcom’s proposed regulatory framework, provided it retains the lion’s share of the market, although considerable risks remain.
Expenditure on UK classifieds peaked in 2004, but has since almost halved to £1.95 billion in 2018. In every vertical, the print to digital transition of expenditure has favoured a first mover, leading to dominant positions that challengers find hard to disrupt.
The property market was stagnant in 2019, with stable house price growth but low transaction volumes as Brexit uncertainty held back sales. An expected cut in interest rates this year should contribute to a slight rise in transaction volumes.
The low tide of transactions has cemented the reign of Rightmove and condemned challengers to low traction. No. 2 player, Zoopla, plans for a major drive in 2020 after a 1.5-year investment spree by parent private equity firm Silver Lake Partners.
Comcast’s new, on-demand service, launching in April, is an attempt to break NBCU’s unsustainable dependence on sales to Netflix and other SVODs. Peacock provides a path of digital transition for advertising-funded TV with a revamped low-load, high cost-per-thousand model.
Reach will be built with a free online tier and distribution to Comcast subscribers. Peacock seeks carriage from other pay-TV operators, with which reciprocal deals would make sense (i.e. HBO Max on Comcast alongside Peacock on AT&T’s platforms).
In Europe, where Comcast has no existing major free-TV offering to transition, launching Peacock will be challenging but could present Sky with ideas to counterweigh Netflix on its own service.
Douglas said the Athletic differs from older digital media companies in that it comes from “A completely different era of the development of the internet. It is not about advertising or sponsorship and it is entirely about the quality rather than quantity of content, and building a niche audience rather than thinking about scale."
He added that success will depend on sports fans making The Athletic core to their daily football news habit. “I don’t think yet that the UK launch has been a proven success, because it takes time, but they are getting quite significant support.”
Claire Enders was quoted in the Financial Times on New BBC chief will inherit broadcaster under attack on all fronts. Claire said “The next three years will be the most extraordinary period for the BBC to navigate, there’s no doubt about that."
James Barford was quoted in The Times on Huawexit? Ministers weigh Trump’s threats against 5G. James said “Huawei is a major provider of equipment in Openreach’s full-fibre roll-out. You can’t roll out full fibre quickly if you are having to take Huawei kit out.”
