Abi Watson was quoted in The Times on "Cost of a paperback tests £9.99 barrier as inflation hits publishers"
4 April 2022Abi said “It’s quite a big psychological barrier for consumers. No one wants to be the first mover.”
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Abi said “It’s quite a big psychological barrier for consumers. No one wants to be the first mover.”
Tom said "LBC has been quite slow to digitise and move on to online platforms. What they’ve been really good at is seeing this move towards more opinionated news. The demand there is for lively debate."
Douglas said “One of the knock-on effects of such an extraordinary news run is that it has given confidence back to the news industry that it has a role, a purpose and a community of people prepared to value it. Every conversation used to be about the battle with Google, but now heads are up. For the first time executives can see, imagine, and picture an online future.”
Digital pioneer Viaplay has been leading NENT’s exemplary transition from linear to on-demand with sustained revenue and subscriber growth—unlike its pay-TV peers
These results have been leveraged to tell capital markets a Netflix-like equity story, underpinning ambitious growth targets to 2025 for the Nordics and new launches abroad, including the UK this year (albeit in low-key mode)
Expansion builds on a pivot to fixed costs originals and multi-territory sports rights. But, in highly competitive markets, we are sceptical of NENT’s capacity to generate the revenues necessary to breakeven with fast rising content costs
Gill said returning to TV is a "sensible move."
"What was odd was the BBC's move away from a channel. It is difficult to regain all the audience that the BBC once had, but they will make some inroads into attracting 16 to 34s again, and then the hope is that those viewers might move over to watch something on BBC1 or BBC2."
Campaigning for re-election next month, President Macron has promised to scrap the licence fee without proposing any specific replacement
Without stable and predictable revenues, the exposure of France Télévisions to political pressures will increase. Capacity to fund long-term projects may weaken
Channel 5 has been a rare recent success story in linear television, growing overall viewing and share while beginning to shake off the perception of being the home of cheaper, exploitative programming, consolidated under the ownership of Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell
The programming shift—most notably in investment in lower-price-point British drama—has been made possible with savings from axing schedule centerpieces Big Brother and soon, Neighbours. However, this will result in continued declines in 16-34 viewing share
The other channel brands of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS) are in a gradual downswing: My5 is subscale, while Pluto TV makes less sense in the UK than in other markets. We wait with interest as to how upcoming SVOD, Paramount+, will differentiate
The Times and the Sunday Times have posted a record operating profit of £44.7 million, the highest (in nominal terms) since 1990, doubling a strong 2020
All the Times’ online metrics are going in the right direction, partly reflecting a favourable news agenda, but also a renewed energy, imagination and working rhythm galvanised by a new team and structure
Reader economies are gathering momentum, at least among the quality press, and there are also hopeful signals among local and magazine media. Signs of reader subscription fatigue are supply-side rather than demand-driven—publishers should double down on their mission and purpose
The UK government is on the cusp of introducing legislation that will force online platforms to monitor and mitigate the presence and spread of harmful and illegal content, in a regulatory first for big tech.
Affected companies should take note: they will need to prepare for a higher level of transparency and communication with regulators, and larger service providers will require expanded moderation, user verification and research capabilities.
Users should be protected as platforms balance complex competing duties. News publisher content has a carveout, but publishers may experience butterfly effects as the online environment is reshaped.