Streaming profitability beckons, but owes much to the profitable services folded into companies’ DTC segments alongside the headline streamers.

There is a broader move towards bundling and price rises. The former bolsters subscriber additions and lifetime value but is ARPU-dilutive, while price rises will bump up both ARPU and churn.

2024 marks the first year with multiple players at scale in the ad space, as Prime Video entered the market. Other streamers with high CPMs and lower scale may be forced to re-examine their offerings.

Meta's China risk is overstated: the spend from Chinese advertisers is diverse and resilient to everything short of a full-blown trade war. 

Apple (and Tesla) are in the more precarious position of selling directly in-market, and face sharpening domestic competition.

Amazon's exit from selling in China still leaves it exposed: its marketplace strategy is built on Chinese sellers, whose potential routes to market are proliferating with local platforms going global.  

The launch of a new free tier in Germany in December 2023 marks a new stage in DAZN’s strategy to transform into a broader sports destination platform.

The final weeks of 2023 also saw DAZN agree extensions to vital distribution deals with its most valuable partners: Sky, TIM and Movistar.

DAZN is focused on reaching breakeven on a monthly basis this year and its recently released 2022 accounts show large but narrowing losses, and a small first step taken towards this goal.

DAZN has morphed from a purely OTT to a hybrid sports service, becoming the number two football broadcaster in Europe.

A revamped distribution strategy focused on partnerships with pay-TV operators has extended reach and improved coverage, while ARPU has grown from firmer pricing and more sophisticated packaging.

DAZN is now a more financially sustainable company that should reach breakeven next year and move into profitability thereafter, with additional upside from betting and retailing third-party sports services.

The Premier League has launched its first competitive rights auction since 2018, offering broadcasters a longer four-year cycle and 70 more live games.

Sky could reduce costs by cutting down on one weekly slot, but we expect it to fight for four packages, consistent with its history of prioritising the prominence of its Premier League coverage.

Competitive tension may be the strongest between TNT Sports and DAZN.

A new era is starting for the big consumer tech companies, as they venture outside of their traditional comfort zones to bet on future growth—most obviously in AI, and then cloud, gaming, headsets and video.

Competition in the tech space is intensifying as incumbents go head-to-head in new revenue growth areas also populated by insurgent startups—their M&A watched closely by competition regulators.

Fat profit margins have ensured vast financial resources are available to pour into competition, but hitting the right targets for consumer engagement is key to success.

On 18 May 2023, Enders Analysis co-hosted the annual Media and Telecoms 2023 & Beyond Conference with Deloitte, sponsored by Barclays, Financial Times, and Salesforce

With over 550 attendees and over 40 speakers from the TMT sector, including leading executives, policy leaders, and industry experts, the conference focused on how new technologies, regulation, and infrastructure will impact the future of the industry

This is the edited transcript of Session One, covering: the future of digital experiences, the streaming economy, and harnessing AI for good. Videos of the presentations will be available on the conference website

Recent developments in AI have ignited a frenzy in the tech world and wider society. Though some predictions are closer to sci-fi, this new phase is a real advance.

We view AI as a ‘supercharger’, boosting productivity of workers. The impact is already being felt across media sectors, including advertising and publishing.

Firms thinking about using AI should assess which tasks can be augmented and what data is required. Be prepared for unpredictable outputs and a changing legal and tech landscape.

A combination of factors drove the worst quarter ever for big tech growth, though the secular shift online of the economy and society will continue.

Advertising demand is down, reflected in lower prices. Ads did better the closer they are to transactions, with variability by category.

Efficiencies and AI are the investor-soothing buzzwords going into 2023.

DAZN has published its 2021 results, with losses extending to $1.4 billion, a situation that will likely have ameliorated in 2022, as the company looks to breakeven in 2023.

With the Champions League rights renewed in Germany, and crucial distribution deals secured in Italy and Spain, DAZN has a firmer foothold in its three major European markets.

Price increases in major markets and ancillary revenue streams will help stem losses, but achieving break-even by 2023 is still a challenge.