The shift is also changing how advertisers value publisher-made social, aid Abi Watson, head of publishing for Enders Analysis. “The last year has really seen an acceleration in the recognition and professionalisation of the creator industry, coinciding with the decline in referral traffic,” she said. The growth in social-only briefs at DMG suggests that advertisers increasingly see value in these formats as “destinations in their own right,” rather than simply as extensions of existing publishing brands,” she added.

Apple’s ads business matters more than its size suggests because it sits inside services, the part of Apple that now does a lot of the heavy lifting on profit. In 2018, services brought in 24% of Apple’s growth profit, with hardware such as the iPhone delivering the other 76%, according to Enders Analysis. Today services account for 43% and products 57%. Apple doesn’t say how much of that comes from ads but every dollar it makes there adds to the side of the business it most wants to grow. 

However, the high cost of building out fibre broadband networks has saddled altnets with more than £9bn of net debt, according to estimates from Enders Analysis. The sector posted £1.5bn in losses in 2024, Enders said, as consumer uptake of services also fell short of expectations.  

“I think they will go for a strategy of optimising their revenue, which is probably to keep premium pricing where they don’t have fibre competition, rather than bringing down pricing to maximise the take-up,” Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis said. 

A Netomnia-Nexfibre combination would create an 8mn-home fibre network. BT’s Openreach serves nearly 25mn homes with fibre broadband, while its retail division has 30 per cent market share, according to estimates from Enders Analysis. 

“The financial community has begun to recognise creators as proper businesses,” says Ben Woods, head of creator economy at Enders Analysis.

The deal would mark the first move towards consolidation in the broadband industry, which has come under mounting pressure from higher interest rates on its rising debt levels, which stand at more than £9bn, according to Enders Analysis. 

The cost of building out networks has left the lossmaking “altnets” saddled with over £9bn in net debt, according to calculations by Enders Analysis. Some providers, such as London’s G.Network, have fallen into administration, while lenders to others have been forced to write down the value of their debts.

“The crucial difference between these deals is that TalkTalk is a proven failed-firm situation, with it having been publicly for sale for at least the past four years but with no credible buyer,” said Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis.

Enders Analysis has identified Virgin Media O2 and CityFibre as leading consolidators, as several heavily indebted fibre networks struggle to win sufficient business to justify high investment levels.

“The overarching problem is the amount of long-form content people watch is going down,” Tom Harrington, head of television at Enders Analysis, said. “If the whole thing is shrinking … then that’s a challenge for every broadcaster and streamer.”