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“Trump is reshuffling the cards,” said François Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis, adding that “as long as tensions are not resolved, and there is uncertainty, they represent “a risk on investment and on long term decisions made by companies,” including those in the media and entertainment sphere.

“I think countries like Canada and the U.K. should be the most sensitive since there is a lot of production by American studios and for the American market taking place in both countries,” Godard noted.

“Then there are question marks regarding the European policy towards American tech exports [to Europe] and American tech giants, as a form of retaliation,” Godard went on to add. “The matter is certainly not settled.”

Claire Holubowskyj, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis, said that a restructuring by itself was unlikely to 'move the dial' until the results of any changes began to be reflected in the advertising giant's finances.

“It’s completely different to scheduling content on a pretty closed ecosystem,” Tom Harrington, an analyst at Enders Analysis, said. “Casting money onto programming that’s going to be on this enormous platform like YouTube, where someone will probably never see what you’re making for them. It’s a completely different kettle of fish.”

Claire Holubowskyj, senior research analyst, Enders analysis, said: “A key value of chatbots is in how their only incentive is to give the best possible answers to queries — introducing advertising, even if not directly integrated into responses, erodes this by casting doubt on whether serving users or monetisation is motivating recommendations.”

Despite concerns and clear issues that need to be addressed, advertising revenue enables access for consumers who cannot afford expensive subscriptions.

Holubowskyj said: “How necessary advertising is will depend on a model’s user base: higher-value enterprise subscriptions are the clearest route to profitability, but are only feasible for a handful of tools.

“Most audiences won’t be upsold to higher paid tiers, so for consumer-oriented model providers, advertising will be the main way to monetise reach.”

Netflix has “a well-oiled machine when it comes to lobbying in Europe,” says François Godard, an analyst at Enders Analysis. The company has a longstanding dialogue with Brussels, he notes, having engaged in lots of back and forth over the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS) norm that forces foreign streamers to invest a portion of their revenue into local productions. A norm that, by and large, Netflix abides by.

This could force the channel to raise its prices and make Tavernost's ambitious goal of reaching over two million subscribers very uncertain. "Ligue 1+ doesn't seem to have the potential to generate revenue at the level it was still at in 2023-2024... I don't know of any top-tier leagues that survive on their own channel," explains François Godard, a sports rights analyst at Enders Analysis.

According to François Godard, a media and telecoms analyst at Enders Analysis who covers the development of football media rights agreements and subscription trends across Europe, the gap in broadcasting revenue is likely to persist and may widen further. Broadcasters, he explains, are drawn to competitiveness and a league’s perceived value, creating a structural virtuous cycle over time. 

“As the Premier League is becoming more attractive, they get more money. They buy the best players, which then increases the attraction for broadcasters. Furthermore, they buy players from other European countries, which attract their viewers. This again raises the value of the rights,” he says.