Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the growing popularity of streaming services, which has sparked the biggest fall in viewing figures for Premier League football on Sky TV for seven years, prompting doubts over the future of a valuable source of income for clubs. Claire said that the fall in TV viewing figures was linked to the rapid growth of services where matches are streamed live to a device via a phone signal. She said that the impact on Sky and BT was potentially “catastrophic” unless they could come up with an improved business model. Streaming services may be via Sky or BT’s own services, Sky Go or the BT Sport app. Claire added that “It’s a well-established trend. A younger generation is quite happy with [illegal] smartphone streaming. The quality might not be great but it’s a lot better than paying £50 or £60 per month . . . There is no practical way you can exclude streaming like this from a sports stadium”.

Julian Aquilina was quoted in an article on illegal streamed services, which has sparked the biggest fall in viewing figures for Premier League football on Sky TV. Julian said that evidence of “cord-cutting”, where consumers cancel cable and satellite TV subscriptions to opt for the use of internet-based streaming services such as Amazon Prime and Netflix, was also an alarming development for Sky and others. He added that “the real impact for Sky is going to be if they keep losing audiences. They are going to be taking a hit on their revenues. Subscriptions are fundamental to their business model. We’ll have to wait and see what the consequences will be long term”.

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the Guardian newspaper to go tabloid, dropping its distinctive Berliner newspaper format and shifting to a smaller print size to slash costs and reduce heavy losses. At the same time as investing heavily in the Berliner format the newspaper group embarked on an open online strategy to grow the Guardian’s brand internationally by allowing readers free access to its website. Douglas said “it always looked like an expensive and ambitious contradiction. For sure [readers] may think that the tabloid is not as attractive but the Guardian needs to communicate to its core audience that it is taking costs seriously”.

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on the appointment of the new chief executive of Channel 4. The publicly owned group announced on Monday that Alex Mahon, first female chief executive, would take over from David Abraham who is standing down after seven years in charge. Ms Mahon from the special effects business Foundry will lead the broadcaster at a time of deep uncertainty over its future location and a slump in the television advertising market. She will have to navigate a difficult advertising market with analysts predicting a possible fall of 5-6 per cent in 2017. Claire said “it’s a daunting challenge because we are going to have a really tough year. Although Channel 4 has significant reserves it doesn’t have any significant other source of revenue and if the ad slump prolongs itself to next year, that is going to be quite a demanding time.”

Tom Harrington was quoted in an article on Amazon offering live television channels on its video platform for the first time in Europe as the US technology group steps up its push into broadcasting and ramps up its competition with traditional networks. "It makes sense for both parties,” says Tom Harrington of Enders Analysis. “If more people are watching Horse and Country through Amazon then they are more likely to buy more saddles through Amazon.”

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the Guardian strategy - the move towards charging online readers represents a major shift for a group that had been almost evangelical about offering its digital journalism for free. But the Guardian has been forced to rethink its strategy after arguably the biggest crisis in its near 200-year history hit last year, when a sharp drop in print advertising compounded disappointing digital ad revenue. Now the Guardian is relying on reader’s support to stave off crisis. However, analysts say that unless losses are reduced and new revenue streams found, the Guardian will quickly find itself in the same predicament. Douglas said “the scale of the fund and the core Guardian objective of achieving sustainability should not be intertwined. In some ways the bigger the fund the more the business is culturally inclined to accept colossal trading losses”.

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on a broader change in the media industry - publishers are turning their back on the social network. Many publishers have concluded that the expected deluge of digital advertising is unlikely to materialise. Last year roughly 89% of the growth in digital ad spending in Britain was soaked up by just two companies, Google and Facebook, according to figures from Enders Analysis. Douglas said “the idea that digital advertising was going to be this great wave of money to save the new industry is now being seen for what it is: a complete illusion”. A spate of recent controversies, from “fake news” to the YouTube extremist content advertising scandal, has opened a route to salvation — and it looks very much like the business model that has sustained the news industry in the past. YouTube’s inability, and for a while unwillingness, to remove ads appearing next to extremist content and hate speech have given advertisers pause. Douglas said: “advertisers are slowly but surely coming back to the idea of trying to reach quality audiences in quality environments. It’s come full circle.”

Claire Enders was quoted in an article on Adam Crozier’s departure from ITV which has opened up one of the biggest jobs in British media. Claire suggests that ITV may plump for an internal appointment, an option that would have the benefit of ensuring maximum continuity. The obvious internal candidate, therefore, may be Ian Griffiths, ITV’s finance director, who will lead the company on an interim basis alongside Sir Peter Bazalgette, the executive chairman, until a permanent replacement is confirmed by the board. However, he appears to have ruled himself out, even though Claire said: “it may be an arrangement that is very successful. The Bazalgette-Griffiths combination is a tough one to beat”.

Douglas McCabe was quoted in an article on the luxury magazines market, which is starting to see a shift in readers and advertisers to online social media platforms. UK circulation for women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines fell by 5 per cent year on year in 2016, according to figures from the Audit Bureau of Circulation. But for many of these magazines, the loss of readers is of less concern than the shifting advertising market, where they have traditionally earned most of their revenues and profits. Douglas said “It is absolutely true that advertising at the luxury end of the market has held up much better than advertising as a whole. However, it is also true that publishers of those magazines will be nervous that some of the transition that has taken place in other parts of the ad market from print to digital could happen at the luxury end as well.”

Francois Godard was quoted in an article on the Vivendi CEO tops list for a new Telecom Italia board. Vivendi has named its chief executive at the top of a list of proposed directors at Telecom Italia, in a move that appears aimed at replacing TI’s current chairman, Giuseppe Recchi. Francois said “it opens the door to have de Puyfontaine as Telecom Italia’s chairman without explicitly saying so”.