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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

Financial Times

6 February 2017

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the expansion of Axel Springer news service, Upday, from four to 16 countries in Europe, as the German media group accelerates its shift into digital publishing. Upday, it’s a news aggregator that uses human editors as well as an algorithm to select news stories, it was developed as part of an exclusive partnership with Samsung and launched in Germany, Poland, the UK and France last February. Douglas said that the outlook for app advertising was promising. Adding that “Publishers are able to charge a premium for app advertising because the user is more loyal and engaged than the mobile web audience, and it is a much less intrusive experience, so we see this as positive.”

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The Media Day 2016 - multi-tasking millennials and multi-media baby boomers

3 February 2017

Ofcom’s 2016 Digital Day confirms a pronounced shift in media and communication habits of UK adults since 2014 towards mobile and online viewing of TV content.

Time spent on TV devices has proved robust in the digital transition thanks to internet platforms like Netflix and Amazon, along with older users’ attachment to linear TV.

The ascension of mobile at the expense of computer time is very marked due to changes in the home, and among the young, is driving multi-sourcing and multi-tasking.

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Sky on track - H1 2017 results

2 February 2017

Sky H1 2017 results are broadly in line with company guidance on revenues, costs and synergies given at the 2016 Investor Day 

The core focus since the formation of European Sky in November 2014 has been investment for growth in all sectors of the business (i.e. retail products, content offers and customer service), an approach that is beginning to bear fruit. Sky Italy had a notably “excellent” start to the year

Most eye-catching in the results release was the planned launch in fiscal 2018 of an IP alternative to Sky’s DTH service. That speaks volumes about the know-how Sky has accumulated over the last ten years in meeting customer demands and building customer relationships

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BT Q3 2016/17 results: Strong core, let down elsewhere

1 February 2017

BT had a solid enough quarter, with revenue and EBITDA growth dipping due to pre-warned temporary factors, consumer continuing to outgrow business, and very solid operating trends evident, especially in high speed broadband and mobile

This has of course been entirely overshadowed by the profit warning, with prospective weaknesses in UK public sector and international corporate of far more concern than the contained, albeit surprising, accounting irregularities in Italy

BT has a large share of revenue and a much smaller share of profit from corporate/government data network/IT services, which are erratic in nature and arguably in long term decline in their current form, and without major changes they will continue to be so

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Financial Times

30 January 2017

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on Bertelsmann, the German conglomerate, which owns 53 per cent, is looking to raise its stake in Penguin Random House. Especially after the UK professional publisher Pearson said it planned to sell its 47 per cent share in the company. However, it comes at a time when the digital revolution is utterly transforming traditional business models and rewriting the rule-book for industries, from music and media to travel and financial services. Moreover, when many believed publishing would also fall victim to digital disruption, Douglas said “the physical book market has turned out to be more resilient than anyone expected”.

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Netflix at 10: still growing, still spending

26 January 2017

Netflix celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its streaming service by posting its largest quarterly rate of subscriber growth, adding just over 7m new subscribers in Q4 2016, smashing its own forecast for the period of 5.2m

5.12m of the new subscribers were for its international services, attributed to acceptance of its growing suite of English language original programs. But growth is just as likely related to the bolstering of overseas offerings with acquired programming, after launching worldwide with relatively small libraries

While re-establishing confidence after a period of doubt when missing targets in Q2, challenges await; most notably concerns around net neutrality, diversifying content genres, and the open question as to how effectively original programming will be able to carry the service

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Financial Times

26 January 2017

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the Murdoch family, and the gradual transfer of power from Rupert Murdoch to his sons, James and Lachlan. The brothers will manage the Sky bid with the aim of avoiding the fate of the last offer they made for the company. Back in 2010, the family couldn’t have handled things much worse, according to Claire Enders. Claire points to the aggressive posture taken at the time, particularly by James, who in his 2009 MacTaggart lecture lambasted the BBC, calling the scale of its activities “chilling” and describing the regulation of UK broadcasting as “authoritarianism” that limited choice and freedom of expression. Claire says this disdain carried over into the first Sky bid a year later, with “hectoring” phone calls by the Murdoch camp to government ministers. It was, she goes on, “an extraordinary farce”. The bid this time has been made in less charged circumstances. There has been no antagonism towards Ofcom or the government and no backdrop of a criminal investigation. Claire said “the previous bid was highly politicised but this bid is very deliberately not politicised at all”. The Murdochs, she adds, “are being patient and understanding and they are not hectoring”.

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Music Subscription Streaming

12 January 2017

Streaming is now mainstream and we predict 113% growth in expenditure on subscriptions for 2015-18 in the top four markets (US, UK, Germany and France)

Free vs paid-for streaming is the central question for the music ecosystem: free yields fractions of pennies, making subscription the only credible business model

Market leader Spotify is facing competition from tech giants Amazon, Apple and Google, with deep pockets, for whom content is a pawn in a larger game

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Financial Times

12 January 2017

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the UK newspaper crises, which is driving rivals collaboration in face of fast declining print advertising. Richard Desmond, who owns the Express newspaper group, and Simon Fox, Trinity Mirror chief executive, called on a potential merger. Douglas said “in these challenging times, newspaper owners are having to think the unthinkable. Consolidation is inevitable.”

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