Commenting on the expansion in the context of the Standard’s decline, Douglas McCabe, director of publishing at Enders Analysis, told City A.M.: “It’s impossible not to feel sad about the retreat of the Evening Standard as a great city newspaper of outstanding heritage. “It all too elegantly illustrates some of the fears about local news droughts our research has been describing in recent years. “A small, agile, journalism-focused service like The Mill is a sound idea, though London’s enormous footprint is both prize and challenge. “
The New York Times in 2012 brought in former BBC boss Mark Thompson. In his eight years as chief executive, he was credited with steering a digital transformation that has made the paper a staggering exception to its industry’s malaise. It is “a good case study that other media owners are hoping to follow”, said Claire Enders, a US-born media analyst based in the UK.
In an interview with Le Monde, independent British researcher and expert Claire Enders, who is a reference in the analysis of media strategies beyond the United Kingdom, believes that, without assigned and independent resources, a merger of France Télévisions , Radio France, France Médias Monde and the INA would be dangerous. She is often presented as the high priestess of the media in the United Kingdom. Very influential, even beyond the borders of her country, Claire Enders founded, with her twin sister, Enders Analysis, the main British research and consulting company on media and telecoms.
Davie was speaking at the Deloitte and Enders Analysis Media & Telecoms 2024 and Beyond Conference in London on Tuesday morning alongside Channel 4 boss Alex Mahon, managing director of ITV Studios Julian Bellamy and Sarah Rose, president of Channel 5 and regional lead for Paramount on a panel headed “U.K. television’s digital age.” The panel was moderated by Deloitte partner Rupert Derbyshire.
Gill Hind, the chief operating officer and director of TV at Enders Analysis, said: “These equity investments that the broadcasters are taking are quite small, so there is less concern about potential risk. For ITV or Channel 4, taking stakes can help them fulfil their societal remit to back creative companies. Also, TV advertising can now target a particular postcode or demographic and it helps if, in a sales pitch, broadcasters can tell other small businesses that this has worked.”
Abi Watson, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis, said the announcement was an “inevitability” as the Evening Standard was among the most exposed newspapers post-pandemic “given the fact that mobility, especially in London, has remained depressed thanks to work from home”. She noted that it was following other free titles that had reduced their frequency or stopped print editions such as Stylist and Time Out London.