Wireless

AI assistants are aiming to break the link between aggregation and discovery. Tangible utility is still the best defence for the online marketplace model that derived value from owning discovery within specific verticals (vehicles, properties, jobs, online resale).

For OpenAI, integrating with the marketplace ecosystem is a chance to broaden its commercial relevance to users across sectors without undue risk.

The expansion of programmatic and the rise of chatbot advertising formats further break down the distinctions between display, search, and classified advertising, promoting both competition and opacity.

Streamers are trying to position ‘engagement’ as the new gauge of success, but in a definitionally opaque way. Netflix says "quality, variety, and quantity" matter, while cutting its viewing reports to annual. Disney says it's about fandom, not just subscribers.

Every streamer is now in the black, but the gap with Netflix continues to widen. Netflix runs at 33% margins; the rest are in single digits. Peacock's first-ever profit reflects World Cup seasonality.

All players have launched short-form vertical feeds to solve discovery fatigue and capture daytime mobile usage. YouTube has proved the economics of this, but SVODs will attempt to replicate this within a premium streaming context.

Service revenue trends confounded expectations to improve slightly in spite of an expected drag from changes to in-contract pricing.

VodafoneThree appears to be rethinking its speed-tiered pricing on both main brands, perhaps signalling clearer differentiation between them.

For the new government, planning law reform could make a real difference to the sector's investment profile, and hence, its growth ambitions.