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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.
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
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
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”.
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
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”.
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
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.”
In the UK, traditional broadcast television's future appears threatened, as technological developments increasingly allow people to access video content on demand, whether on TV sets or other screens, or from traditional broadcasters or online services.
This report examines the extent to which timeshift viewing, by which we mean personal video recorder (PVR) playback and viewing to catch-up services, has bolstered linear TV.
The linear schedule is still very relevant for both consumers and advertisers, maintaining television’s status as an effective mass medium for building brands.