“All this has put the BBC’s independence at risk, and its reputation at risk,” said Claire Enders, a London-based media researcher and the founder of Enders Analysis. “That’s unfortunate because this is, at heart, a dispute over whether the BBC can impose its social media guidelines on a contractor.”
Some say that the matter is likely to pass soon. “It has been blown out of proportion,” says Claire Enders, founder and owner of Enders Analysis a media consulting firm, who notes the BBC has faced criticism about its presenters airing divisive views for years. Ms. Enders expects Mr. Lineker to be back presenting Match of the Day shortly.
“If they don’t do the right things this could be existential for them,” says Jamie MacEwan, senior media analyst at Enders Analysis. “TikTok is a service you can ban without too much disruption in the real economy. It’s not like banning WhatsApp or an app with a lot of functionality. In the US, the biggest misgivings [over banning TikTok] are seen as losing the young vote and freedom of speech.”
He notes that while TikTok was successful in facing down a previous attempt to close it down led by Donald Trump, its current crisis “feels a bit more bi-partisan in the US” and is far more serious.
There is a growing sense in the industry that big names are starting to probe deeper into whether their streaming model can be sustainable – that they’re finally “starting to look under the hood”, as Tom Harrington, head of television at Enders Analysis, puts it. “Should you be spending this much? How efficient is it? [These are] questions that suddenly start getting asked when you’re not adding five million subscribers every quarter,” he says.
He added “The general rule of thumb is that when there are times of economic stress, people go out less, go to the cinema less, go to restaurants less, which means they’re at home more,” says Harrington. “If you’re watching more TV, you’re getting more value from your [streaming] subscription.”
This desire for all digital is also perhaps an announcement effect. "He speaks of 'a few years' for this change, which is very imprecise and probably also intended to reassure its shareholder KKR", analyzes François Godard, analyst at Enders Analysis.
The idea of connection at the heart of social networks has indeed moved towards private circles, which are more difficult to monetize. And competition to Messenger and WhatsApp is fierce, especially among young people where services like Discord and BeReal are increasingly popular. “The great strength of Facebook was the control of the 'social graph': 2 billion normal people produced content about their lives for their friends and families. They didn't need to be paid for and they didn't unionize. But today, the model has changed: on TikTok, you don't find the people you know, but the best creatives ,” notes Joseph Teasdale.
François Godard, who covers media at the research group Enders Analysis, said Rabe had recently been “going from one problem to the other” and would need to come up with a convincing “plan B” after his setbacks.
“The rise of casual footwear goes back 15 years now to the redoubtable Ugg,” says Alice Enders, director of research at media insights company Enders Analysis. “And then the pandemic lockdowns reinforced the trend of casual wear.”
Enders Analysis’ Tom Harrington described the price changes as the next evolution for Netflix’s pricing following the launch of cheap mobile-only plans in some international markets. “It’s the next step in creating a nuanced, bespoke approach to pricing on a country-by-country basis – a far cry from how the product was pitched after the global rollout stage, where in many countries it was extremely expensive, uncompetitive against very cheap local streamers and only accessible by (their words) ‘western-oriented elites’,” he told THR.
