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“This will either go nowhere or there will be a settlement,” Tom Harrington, analyst at Enders Analysis predicts. “There’s only a limited life left on the original IP, the original version of the character would only be usable in niche circumstances, and it isn’t clear whether there would be an appetite for someone else to exploit it on a major scale. There are only a few companies that could make a Superman film of the standard that the public expects.”

But for Enders Analysis’s Tom Harrington, soaps are actually crucial to streaming services like iPlayer as well as Netflix and Amazon. Cool, edgy 10-part dramas can be binged in a month, then viewers drop their subscription. Keeping audiences hooked is what soaps have always been good at.

“Soap opera, as a format, is not dead,” he explains. “Netflix licences a lot of soaps and telenovelas in various territories and is now moving into commissioning its own – it commissioned the first one in France, called Tout Pour la Lumière, last November. The rationale being that this sort of content brings more urgency and different mood states to the platform than just a library of content that isn’t going anywhere.”

What's happening in France could be a warning to the rest of Europe's sports media markets, according to Francois Godard, media analyst at Enders Analysis.

"Dazn's attitude in France may also send a message to the Serie A in Italy,” Godard said. “They have no contractual option to back out in Italy (unlike in France), but the broadcasting economics there are as challenging as in France, and competition for rights is minimal.”

True, some regions may have greater potential, including the US where average revenues per user are more than double those of the UK, according to Karen Egan of Enders Analysis. And applications can be expanded. If you can beam direct to mobile phones, then why not laptops, cars or tractors?

A study published last week by Enders Analysis showed that the BBC increased its total viewing hours by 3 per cent in 2024, while ITV fell by 5 per cent and Sky by 6 per cent. Disney Plus recorded a drop in UK viewing hours but BBC iPlayer grew by 24 per cent.

Enders co-author Bella Monkcom believes the BBC is succeeding because of the breadth of iPlayer, in comparison with subscription-based streamers dominated by scripted drama and film.

“They are honing in on those,” says Monkcom. “They know that is what is going to bring in viewers, especially young viewers.”

“The price is so low, it can only go up really substantially,” François Godard, a senior media analyst for Enders, a media research and analysis company, told The Athletic.

“I think (Netflix) liked very much what they did,” said Godard. “They say they want eventful sporting competitions and they did a great job at making this an event at Christmas with Beyoncé. And I think what they may like with Formula One is that it is an eventful thing.”

While he felt it was “very difficult to forecast” how high the fee would go, he said it could go “much higher” than the last deal. “Hundreds of millions, yes,” Godard said. “I would see this more than doubling because of this potential we have.”

Yet viewing figures for last year, highlighted by Enders Analysis, showed that broadcasters’ reach and viewing fell, with average weekly reach on the TV set falling to 77% compared with 90% in 2019. By any standards, this is an alarming rate of decline over such a short period.

“You can see Snap is [now] applying the playbook that has worked so well for the bigger ad platforms [Meta and Google],” said Jamie MacEwan, senior analyst at Enders Analysis. “It is still far behind [the bigger platforms] on revenues and [average revenue per user], so there is room for decent growth in SMB advertiser numbers and revenues if it gets the execution right.”

James Barford, head of telecoms, Enders Analysis, put these results into context. He said, “We think that the highlight of CityFibre’s 2024 full year results announced today was confirmation of the company having broken even in EBITDA terms, the first of the altnets to do this. Most look like they will struggle to ever break even in EBITDA terms as stand-alone entities, let alone earn a decent return on investment, highlighting the need for consolidation.

“CityFibre is well placed to lead this in our view, but it may need to resolve its financing situation and fully onboard Sky as a wholesale customer before it can really get going. In the interim, we expect altnets’ roll-outs to continue to slow, with slowing customer net adds following, improving the environment for the broadband incumbent players.”