The Premier League’s international media rights are now worth more than the domestic rights, so taking over their sale “may be a clever move”, says Francois Godard of Enders Analysis, but he believes they still need broadcasters. 

“I don’t see D2C [direct to consumer] as the future of football. Maybe it’s an option you can use in certain markets” as leverage to derive bigger bids from media companies, he adds. 

Another major trend in US sports is for long-term partnerships between leagues and broadcasters, which encourage the latter to invest in promoting the former. 

“I don’t believe the NFL and NBA D2C platforms are a substitute for sales to broadcasters,” says Godard. “They are a nice tool and a way to reach core fans.” 

Research by Enders Analysis shows that between 2022 and 2023 the average age of Channel 4’s biggest hits was nine years. For ITV, this figure stood at 11.

Tom Harrington, the head of television at Enders Analysis, says: “This is one of those metrics that can be taken both ways. Reliance on older formats seems the antithesis of innovation. But at the same time, surely it’s a good thing if you have a show that commands strong audiences for 10-plus years?”

Europe is also expected to have its own M&A reckoning. “The climate calls for consolidation,” says François Godard, senior media and telecom analyst at Enders Analysis. 

But whereas studios such as Warner Bros. Discovery, Sony and Lionsgate are expected to be active in one way or another in the United States, across the pond the production sector is likely ground zero. “These producers in Europe have enjoyed the Golden Age of the past 10 years,” says the Italy-based Godard. “But it’s over.” 

“like a drifting ghost ship in Pirates of the Caribbean”.

“It’s very detrimental to people who work there – being a journalist is a very tough profession – and to be stuck in this sort of limbo for more than a year already is not good for the organisation in terms of its cohesion and direction of travel,”

"the reality is that Nvidia will dominate the AI accelerator market for the foreseeable future," particularly as "the wave of AI capex" expected from tech firms in 2025 will ensure it remains "the big winner" in the absence of strong competition.

"AMD is a ways behind and none of the hyperscaler chips are going to be matching that kind of volume, which gives Nvidia some breathing room in terms of market share," 

"however, there's another reality Nvidia must reckon with. "The challenge is the sheer weight of investor expectations due to the scale and premium that Nvidia has reached, where anything less than continually flying past every expectation is a disappointment," 

“Sky was always going to be looking for a stringent and long-term wholesale access arrangement as it will be many years before its agreement with O2 expires, and Sky would like to be able to secure even better terms when it does”, said Karen

“ Our view is that the merger will be good for MVNOs as Three has not really been a serious network of consideration for big MVNO moves, so its loss will not impact them. What does matter in terms of MVNOs getting good wholesale rates is the amount of capacity in the market and that will increase by 30% on the basis of our estimates, putting downward pressure on wholesale rates. ”

"Murdoch was immeasurably influential during many decades and in many countries, often through quiet phone calls proffering advice, rather than obvious editorial positions, although of course there were many of those too.”

“From a monetisation angle, the costs of this content is so high that it wouldn’t be possible for Netflix to just include it in the main offering,” explains Tom Harrington, analyst at Enders Analysis. “That means it would need to create special sports add-on packages which subscribers would have to pay for. This would be a major shift for a business like Netflix.”

Of course, they would say that. But it makes sense to strengthen a well-established sports brand, says Adam Dalrymple, of the media pulse-takers Enders Analysis. Its recent report showed TV sport viewing was relatively robust: while broadcast TV figures had plummeted by 26% since 2015, sports viewing was down just 3%. “Every media company is grappling with the digital transition,” Dalrymple says. “But Match of the Day has a head start because it already has a digital home.”

Having tools like this is another way for TikTok to try to reassure smaller advertisers, who already manage Google and Meta spend and have limited marketing teams, that they can multi-home on TikTok without paying an enormous price in time or effort, explained Jamie MacEwan, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis.

“It’s really important given how much Reels and Shorts have grown, and the fact that Meta and Google are continually improving their tools that convert creative across a range of formats, including short-form video,” he added. “These advertisers tend to focus more on immediate ROI, so the hope will be that reducing upfront costs can give them more leeway on their bids for clicks and impressions.”