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Market revenue growth accelerated to just under 2% in Q4, with broadband growth holding up despite the ending of most pandemic restrictions.
Backbook pricing pressure should continue to retreat in 2022, and ultrafast speed premia should also bolster ARPU as FTTP roll-outs accelerate.
The price increases due in April will further support growth, with BT in particular to benefit, and all will have to be wary of customer backlash.
Tom said “The problem soaps have is that MPs and journalists look down on them, but the audience still loves them. Around 80 per cent of soap viewing is live, while for most drama that’s below 50 per cent. Soap storylines boost mainstream broadcasters’ PSB [public-service broadcasting] credentials. They can run a domestic-violence plot line – that’s usually the only broadsheet press they get – and put it in a naturalistic setting. If the BBC is about reaching as many people as possible to inform, educate and entertain, then EastEnders is a very cheap way to do that.”
Tom said "Whats-on-Netflix.com is interesting in that it straddles fandom and analytics. There are features of Kasey's website that would never be in Netflix's interest to give too much prominence to: the volume and destination of content leaving its service, breakdowns of ownership of third-party content, and any negative news around programming. It is only through the keenness and obsessiveness of an outsider that this content will ever be aggregated."
VMO2 finished 2021 with muted revenue and EBITDA growth, but stronger subscriber progress, with underlying ARPUs a touch weak but not totally out-of-line with industry trends.
The company has a (justifiably) high level of confidence that this can be turned around in 2022, with a significant boost from price rises, the waning of some temporary effects and backed up by solid subscriber dynamics.
Expecting to not be impacted at all by Openreach’s FTTP roll-out into its current and prospective footprint would however be too confident, and for this reason we remain sceptical of VMO2’s accelerated roll-out ambitions.
Gill said “Younger adults, especially the under-24s, are listening to much less radio overall than previously, and the sector will find it difficult to draw these people in as they get older. Hence their investments in podcasts and streaming services.”
Gill said "RT's licence is held by a company, which is state-funded. It is ok under the Broadcasting Act for state-funded organisations to own broadcasting licences. What is not ok, is when it is a political party.
"CGTN had its licence revoked because it was found to be held by the wrong firm. The company that was holding it didn't have any editorial control, but the company that did was funded by the Chinese Communist Party. If Russia is state-owned, but isn't funded by any political party, then there is nothing Ofcom can do about that."
TikTok has reached a billion users worldwide just four years after its global launch, much quicker than social media rivals, though its ban in India is a drag on growth.
TikTok’s popularity with under-25s has contributed to a hollowing-out of Meta’s active userbase. During the pandemic, TikTok also expanded its reach among older demographics, cementing its position within the mainstream and posing a further threat to Meta.
TikTok could earn twice as much revenue as Snap in 2022, making it the first app to break out of the mid-league in years, with a huge runway for growth backed up by ByteDance’s remarkable success in China.
Joseph said Spotify has "good strategic reasons" to increase podcast listening on its service.
"Rogan is the biggest podcast in the US, maybe the world. His ad-reads are reportedly very effective, even among podcast ads- his audience listens to him. Obviously you have to set that against controversy, bad press, and artists leaving in protest. Is Rogan worth $200 million? Maybe not in isolation. But podcasts are a strategically important category for Spotify, and the deal gives them exclusive rights to the biggest show going."
"More non-music listening will improve its negotiating position with the major record labels, a small group of companies with must-carry content for any music streamer. Podcasts also let Spotify serve ads to its paying subscribers, a valuable target. And the more listening behaviours it can collect together on its app, the stickier and harder to leave the service becomes, pushing down churn."
Francois questions whether pay-TV customers would pay more for extra games provided under UEFA’s new Swiss model, which will see an extra 100 Champions League games played each year from 2024.
“This is typical baloney from this industry,” says Godard. “I can't believe that they're throwing such a figure.”
He added “All domestic markets are either declining or stable. We have consumer price inflation, and I'm not sure that the rights will follow the consumer prices."
“Domestic markets won't absorb higher spending and this reflects lower competitiveness in the markets.”