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Benedict Evans was quoted in an article on the FT's Tech Hub about a rally in the share prices of several major internet companies. One of the main beneficiaries was Facebook. “There’s a hunger for something that looks like a mobile stock that’s a good investment,” Benedict commented. “The Facebook spike reflects people hunting for places to put money that look like a mobile play.”
An article on the possible disruption to desktop-oriented internet companies by the growth of mobile quoted Benedict Evans, who discussed the case of Facebook. “It may not matter that lots of people are using WhatsApp – they are using Facebook too,” he said. “It may be a different dynamic [on mobile] – that Facebook hasn’t won in the way they have on the desktop, but that may not matter.”
The ITV Interim 2013 results show a very strong start to the year to yield an 11% rise in EBITA, reflecting primarily strong growth in content production revenues and reductions in both schedule and other costs The weak spot was the -3% fall in NAR in a market that was estimated to be down -1% in H1 2013, although this was owing to seasonal sports factors and ITV anticipated ITV NAR to be broadly flat across the first three quarters of 2013 The overall outlook for H2 2013 and 2014 looks very positive, as ITV continues to build its content and online, pay & interactive revenues, but we also anticipate strong NAR growth in H2 2013 to continue in 2014 and for ITV to return to growing share of total TV NAR
Virgin Media’s subscriber figures were slightly soft in Q2, even accounting for seasonality, with transaction distractions and reduced marketing spend likely contributing
RGU ARPU growth however remains strong at well over 2%, and increased marketing activity around high speed broadband by competitors will give the company the ongoing capability to keep pricing firm
The company management has had a number of changes, but Liberty Global’s overall strategy – profitable growth, not subscriber chasing – would indicate that any changes in approach will not be radical
Reports of the death of the PC have been greatly exaggerated, but rapid adoption of mobile devices is changing how, when, where and why consumers access the internet.
Over the next few years, we forecast that PC user growth will be limited to population growth, smartphone penetration will rise from two thirds currently to over 80% by 2020, and tablet users will converge to the same level as the PC audience.
In addition, we project that overall internet consumption will nearly double by 2020, with PC-based usage declining before levelling out, and smartphone and tablet use increasing threefold.
Of the traditional media sectors, we expect print media to be the most negatively affected by the rise of the mobile internet, with less impact on radio and TV viewing and advertising likely to be relatively resilient.
Douglas McCabe appeared on Channel 4 News to comment on Jeff Bezos's decision to buy The Washington Post. The interview begins at 3:49 into the programme.
A cheaper iPhone has been discussed almost since the original launch in 2007, but we believe costs have fallen and the market developed to the point that it now makes sense for Apple to offer a $200-$300 (unsubsidised) model.
We see a positive but fairly small financial impact on Apple. The key benefit would be defensive: by extending the ecosystem and preserving iOS as developers’ first choice, Apple would secure the whole portfolio.
We believe a well-executed and distributed $200-$300 iPhone would sell double-digit millions of units – a significant challenge to Android OEMs and Google. However, the US market’s pricing structure might limit the impact there.
Toby Syfret was quoted in an article discussing the impact of BT Sport, the new sports channel offered by BT. “It’s not too exciting yet as none of their jewels have come out yet,” he said. He argued that BT must create content to run alongside the live rights to justify the large amount BT has spent expanding into sports broadcasting. “It is vital that they create something that is not just reliant on games and that will push up the cost”.
TalkTalk’s broadband net adds held up well in the June quarter despite weak seasonality and an aggressive competitive push by BT
ARPU growth was steady, which allowed rising subscriber growth to drive consumer revenue growth up to just over 2%, and growth at the group level rose to just under 2%
With the BT Sport impact appearing slight, and regulatory outcomes looking reasonably benign, the outlook is much less uncertain than before