And with RTL Group’s acquisition of Sky Deutschland on track to receive regulatory approval this year, ProSieben’s new owners MFE-MediaForEurope are seeking partnerships that can bring scale to the German broadcaster’s offering – though that scale may be limited by the slow customer growth of MagentaTV, argues François Godard, Media and Telecoms Analyst at Enders Analysis.

“This was overdue,” comments Godard. “The new MFE management is rightly moving to make the ProSieben content available on more platforms and MagentaTV is an obvious place to start as it poses no strategic threat. However, note that Magenta has low penetration with only 4.7 million subscribers (barely about 11 percent of German homes) and is growing very slowly, with only 135,000 subscribers added in the past four quarters.”

The U.K.-based subscription research company Enders Analysis looked at whether or not news publishers should share their content on Apple News (and get a cut of revenue) or focus on growing their own direct subscription businesses – and found it’s a mixed bag, A Media Operator reported.

The line loss numbers from Openreach were “very encouraging” in spite of “aggressive promotions from alt nets,” said Karen Egan, head of telecoms at Enders Analysis. “There has been a lot of shorting of BT in light of the alt net pressure but they seem to be doing very well in the face of that and their all-important free cash flow recovery story remains very much in tact.”

Jamie MacEwan, senior media analyst at Enders Analysis, said that agencies were facing “sentiment volatility that will be tough for ad agencies to shake”.

He added: “Like it or not, their customers continue to spend big on Google and Meta. This leaves agencies increasingly dependent on a handful of platforms where they are outspent by SMEs and exposed to AI tools. That doesn't mean there isn't a lot for agencies to offer their clients in a complex media world, but clearly real-terms growth on a sector level will continue to be a struggle. That is why even Publicis' years of outperformance have not been significantly rewarded.”

According to Enders Analysis, Disney+ engagement in the UK has begun to improve after over 18 months of decline, with the gap to Netflix narrowing for the first time, albeit modestly.

The alternative networks — or altnets — have been badly hit by rising interest rates, amassing an aggregate £9 in bebt, according to the latest figures compiled by Enders Analysis.

Karen Egan at Enders Analysis says: “She definitely did benefit from a timing perspective, coming in after Jansen left.

“But to her credit she told the story much better than he managed to.”

“In this business, they say: sports sell subscriptions, entertainment prevents cancellations,” says François Godard. He is an analyst for the sports rights market and advises companies like DAZN and Sky, as well as the German Football League (DFL). Pay TV without sports rights is difficult, he says. In an industry where everything is now available on demand, a product that still consists primarily of live events is very valuable. Events that no one wants to miss. Sports are the perfect bait for subscribers.

“Netflix remains ruthlessly analytical and laser focused on engagement in the games space, and doesn’t have arbitrary guardrails for what is on or off platform,” said Enders Analysis head of media technology and games Gareth Sutcliffe in an interview with GamesBeat. “Roblox activations will remain in the games and marketing portfolio for some time, as it’s more than a quick execution sandbox given its current high growth trajectory. The brand support tools Roblox is bringing online combined with the overall UGC model are substantively complementary rather than competitive.”

The U.K.-based subscription research company Enders Analysis investigated the question in a new cheekily titled report, "A big apple, uneven bites."

The New York Times and Financial Times — both with bustling subscription businesses — are notably absent from Apple News.  Apple News+ subscriptions are “straightforwardly additive” for news businesses that don’t already have “large, mature owned-and-operated subscription businesses,” the Enders report argues.

For more traffic-dependent publishers, Apple News can provide “a rare buffer in a volatile environment,” the report says. “As discovery via search becomes less reliable, millions of users now encounter premium journalism through a service they already pay for, lowering friction and reinforcing Apple News as a default entry point.”