The period between 2010 and 2013 was one of technological change in video consumption as connected devices achieved mass market adoption and online video players grew in popularity

Amongst the young, TV set viewing fell across this period, particularly in the UK, but this shift in behaviour has yet to impact older demographics in the same way. An ageing population, and associated longer viewing time among older audiences, helped maintain the total number of TV minutes viewed in the three key markets of the UK, US and Germany

Video industry revenues also look resilient; internet advertising has not impacted TV advertising to the same extent it has print, while we are yet to see any meaningful evidence of cord-cutting as a result of increased penetration of SVOD services

EE has launched a new TV service featuring an advanced set-top box with a snazzy interface offered for free to its broadband/mobile customers

The lack of premium content means that the service is of little threat to the established pay TV operators Sky and Virgin Media, and the lack of integration with mobile or steep quad play discount makes it non-threatening to the mobile market

It does however reposition EE Broadband as a differentiated service, making it more competitive without lowering its headline price, with triple play the focus of this move in our view

Virgin Media’s request for Ofcom to open a formal investigation into the auction mechanism of live televised Premier League rights is a timely reminder of the need to consider the consumer as the auction draws ever closer with all eyes focused on the battle of BT versus Sky

When the EC last intervened before the 2006 auction, its remedy focused on the need for more than one winner for the sake of a more competitive downstream market, but without considering other variables affecting the outcome, to which Virgin Media has drawn attention

As the European country with much the highest rights fees per game, much the fewest televised top league games, highest package prices and by far the biggest outlay on player wages, the current PL auction mechanism gives the UK consumer little cause for cheer

The continuing value of linear television is underlined by the fact that television is still comfortably the biggest display advertising medium, and we expect to see strong growth in 2014 and 2015 in spite of the growing impact of online to TV viewing.

Viewing among the 35+s has held up well, and the subset of 45-64s, who control most of the UK’s disposable income and are heavy TV viewers while embracing new technology and modern attitudes, will become increasingly important for broadcasters as the age profile of the UK gets older.

We do not see an overall dramatic shift away from television to other forms of entertainment, though this cannot be taken for granted.

UKTV has posted annual figures showing record revenues of £278 million in 2013, with the promise of more to come after an H1 2014 that has seen it overtake Channel 4 main channel in adult 16+ Share of Commercial Impact (SOCI) delivery and now closing in on Sky and Channel 5.

The rise in adult 16+ SOCI every year since the Freeview launch in 2002 reflects not only UKTV’s preparedness to invest more in content over time, but also management focus on EPG prominence on the free-to-air and pay platforms and unceasing willingness to try new channel ideas.

The challenge now facing the UKTV group is how to maintain growth in an increasingly connected TV landscape. Innovative UKTV Play notwithstanding, the big question comes down to content strategy and the scale of future investment.

Older adults have always watched more TV than younger adults, and even more TV news. The gap has widened over the last five years following the rapid rise in online news consumption via websites or apps among the under 35s, where online is now used as widely as TV for getting news.

Recently published survey data by Ofcom (UK) and Reuters (10 countries) highlight the importance of online as a tool for accessing breaking news, whether search engines, news websites or social networks, along with an expanding field of news content.

Online, with its emphasis on reading rather than watching news stories is no direct substitute for TV. The BBC is by a large margin the most widely accessed online source in the UK, while the challenge for the other TV news providers is to develop commercial models that successfully integrate broadcast with online.

Consolidation in US and European TMT and the rapid expansion of digital giants is creating increasing pressure on the media companies who have to negotiate with them.

In Time Warner, 21st Century Fox identified an acquisition that would give it invaluable global premium content and distribution assets, and the ability to outbid its main rivals in upcoming sports rights auctions. The benefits for Time Warner were less discernible.

The bid was pulled after Time Warner’s management signalled they weren’t interested, and investors reacted with share price movements that helped preclude the bid in the near-term. But consolidation amongst media companies will only make more sense in the years to come.

BSkyB’s Sky Europe project has added a new layer of interest in results of its Continental sister platforms. Sky Italia is almost profitable but with meagre growth prospects, while Sky Deutschland is loss-making but with significant expansion potential

In Germany Sky’s underlying subscriber growth trend is improving while churn is at a historical low. But ARPU growth has stalled, leading us to expect slower revenue growth in fiscal 2015. The latter would be consistent with Sky’s guidance for subscribers and EBITDA

Despite a double dip recession and erosion of its subscriber base, Sky Italia has improved profitability in fiscal 2014. Lower churn points to a possible return to growth – if the economy stabilises

Netflix has always been highly secretive and released very few details about its international streaming performance in individual countries beyond the general statement that it is seeing encouraging progress everywhere

Now at last we can assess Netflix growth trends in the UK with a high degree of confidence as a result of a question added to the BARB ES questionnaire at the beginning of 2014, which is administered to large quarterly samples of 13,500 respondents

On the basis of BARB ES results for Q1 2014, we have revised our UK growth estimates upwards, believing Netflix paid for subscriptions to be above the 3 million mark as it heads into central Europe. Also most striking is Netflix’s popularity among younger households – clearly the cool thing to have

ITV has enjoyed another very positive start to the year, with a repeat 11% increase in adjusted EBITA, this time mainly due to strong NAR growth, further helped by a 20% increase in Online, Pay & Interactive revenues

Broadly flat ITV Studios revenues reflected timing and special factors, including negative changes in the exchange rate. Now the leading US independent producer of unscripted programmes after three further acquisitions, ITV has set its sights on growing scale in scripted content

Promising new opportunities at home and abroad look to be opening up for the ITV broadcast/online business through the expansion of ITV Studios. Nor has this gone unnoticed at a time of growing consolidation in the age of convergence, as indicated by Liberty Global’s acquisition of Sky’s 6.4% stake in ITV