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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

Alice told City A.M. that it was “unsurprisingly disappointing for the many other advertising-reliant digital native media companies watching."

She explained how there was an inherent danger for companies like BuzzFeed in shifting from the “media” label to the “tech” one. Pickthall said it was always going to struggle to live up to investor expectations.

Tom said “The public perception has been that these services are cheap. And they certainly were. But the cost is now quickly transitioning from what is for many an automatic and then forgotten regular discretionary spend, to a noticeable chunk leaving their account.”

He added “The streaming market has been supported by debt-funded, loss-leading, loss-making models. Netflix entered the market and set a budget price and everyone has had to come in under that to compete. You had all these profitable content companies, pay-TV and linear-TV broadcasters who had to move into streaming, and it is not as profitable. Now they have to start looking at value, and customers are going to be continually asked to pay more until these things make real money.”

Jamie said "Telegram's profile has grown enormously in recent weeks, and that has raised the stakes about the impact of misinformation on the platform."

He added "Meta employs tens of thousands of moderators and huge problems still slip through the net," said MacEwan. "It is unclear how much investment in moderation Telegram can support on its current funding model."

Karen said mobile operators have realised that their ability to make returns in this sector is hinged on scale. ‘Scale’ players, like Virgin Media O2 and EE, make returns, but ‘sub-scalers’, like Vodafone and Three, struggle to”, she told City A.M.

“The idea is that consolidating from four networks to three might lead to lower prices rather than higher ones as customers are only having to fund three networks across the country rather than four."

In turn, this would allow all of the operators to make a return without driving up prices for customers – and customers would still continue to have considerable choice.

The UK mobile operators are increasingly vocal about their concerns regarding the tech giants, namely Apple and Google, encroaching on the mobile connectivity market.

eSIMs enhance the case for the tech giants launching their own MVNOs (such as Google Fi in the US) or, perhaps more realistically and concerningly, becoming gatekeepers to mobile airtime subscriptions.

Many things would need to line up for the tech giants to effect this and the MNOs need to stand as one to ensure that they are not successful. Policy makers should be equally reticent.

Tom praised Amazon’s move in what he called an “extremely competitive” market.

“Differentiation within your library is now an overriding necessity, and what makes some content distinctive, and therefore valuable, is global brand recognition."

He added “Intellectual property like James Bond, Rocky and The Handmaid’s tale provide both long-term library value and the possibility of spin offs with a guaranteed audience.  This is why Amazon’s acquisition of MGM might be worth its weight in subscriptions."

ITV is combining its three domestic digital services—ITV Hub, Hub+ and BritBox—into a single product, ITVX, which will have a free and paid tier and see the addition of FAST channels. It will launch in Q4

The Hub and BritBox UK have underwhelmed in their respective markets, hampered by the broadcaster favouring linear revenues and the competitiveness posed by the surfeit of free British content. ITV is looking to change this direction, with shifts in content windowing and some additional content spend

Total external revenues were up 24% YoY in 2021 (and up 4% on 2019) to £3,450 million, driven by the highest advertising revenue on record, however Studios has not yet returned to pre-COVID levels, with both revenues (£1,760 million) and margin (12%) still down on 2019 (£1,830 million and 15%, respectively)