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Benedict Evans was quoted in article discussing Facebook's mobile strategy. "On the desktop, nobody will come along and do to Facebook what Facebook did to MySpace," he said.
“On mobile, that isn’t the case at all. They, like everyone else, are experimenting to work it out. It’s not clear what the right social experience is [on smartphones].”
Last month saw the fourth release of NRS PADD, a fusion of NRS and comScore data, which provides the first industry-wide, cross-platform (print and PC) data set on newspaper brand readership. It was the first release to use full year print readership data
The data is timely, as two sector-leading brands (the Daily Telegraph and the Sun) announced in late March 2013 that they would begin charging for digital access. These announcements signal a strategic shift away from a 15 year commitment to digital advertising as the sole source of digital revenues, and consequently, to digital audience scale
This report illustrates NRS PADD audience data and makes some key observations about the varying success with which newspapers have built online audiences
Digital disruption is causing the decline and fall of print media, but the new online landscape is not settled. Not all newspapers will survive the transition to digital
So far, most newspaper brands (at least in the UK) have chosen to remain free online, relying on advertising revenue. Recent announcements at the Telegraph Media Group, News International and elsewhere indicate this is changing
While a handful of global news sites that achieve huge scale could remain free, many services will have to charge consumers for access
An article discussing the challenges facing Tony Hall, the new Director General of the BBC, quoted Claire Enders. “Rebuilding the public’s trust is going to be Lord Hall’s top priority,” she said. “If he can increase the public’s publicly-stated trust in the BBC, he will find it much easier to get a 1, 2 or 3 per cent increase in the licence fee through parliament.”
UK recorded music retail sales fell 8% in 2012 to £1 billion, as CD sales fell 21% to £540 million whilst digital formats rose 15% to £484 million on a huge 70% climb in subscriptions.
HMV store closures in 2013 will further dent CD sales, but accelerate the point of inflection (at least 50% digital sales) of the UK’s retail market.
The UK remains a robust source of royalties from performance of sound recordings, with PPL reporting revenues in 2011 of £153.5 million, up 7%.
Next-generation consoles from Sony and Microsoft, expected late this year/early next, will kick off a new cycle for the games industry, but enter a much more competitive market
Smartphones and tablets offer an alternative gaming model, with more variety, lower cost, greater convenience and, crucially, rapidly increasing sophistication
These new platforms are expanding gaming to a much larger audience, but also increasingly competing with consoles for the time and attention of core gamers. This could be the last recognisable console cycle
German unbundlers are in decline, unable to match cable for price or bandwidth, or to invest in new fibre networks. Vodafone, the second largest unbundler, must choose between consolidating and divesting Merging with Kabel Deutschland would deliver fixed line synergies – with high execution risks. But, based on the French and Spanish experiences, we doubt that a quad play strategy (synonymous with a price war) would generate value Mobile operators’ fixed line ventures are also in decline elsewhere in Europe, but cable is not always to blame, with pure play fixed line altnets also tending to outperform them, suggesting that genuine cross-selling advantages are marginal at best
Netflix continues to expand its global base on foundations that look slightly less shaky than a year ago as the establishment shows signs of becoming more positive to the upstart in its midst
There has been much talk of the OTT cord cutting threat to pay-TV platforms, yet the real threat lies more with certain broadcast TV channels, especially those specialising in children’s and archive entertainment series
Still, the Netflix brag that it releases the public from the managed dissatisfaction of traditional TV with instantly available drama series like House of Cards is definitely over-the-top and we anticipate niche impact in the UK
Sky Deutschland is reaping the benefits of its re-launch using BSkyB’s model, with an improving content offering and quality of user experience, plus a favourable environment for household consumption in Germany.
2012 results came in very close to our forecasts and we predict that Sky Deutschland will break even at EBITDA level in 2013 and turn cash flow positive in 2015.
The competitive context is benign and the horizon is clear until the next Bundesliga auction in 2016. But, in the meantime, cable, IPTV, FTA and OTT players are committed to widening their pay offers, which may put pressure on Sky’s subscriber growth and content costs.