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“That is proof there’s room for Canal+ alongside the streamers,” says François Godard, analyst at Enders Analysis. The subscriber base has grown by a third since 2019 to 27mn, with a target to reach anywhere between 50mn and 100mn in the coming years, mainly through further international expansion through M&A.
Disney's phase of consolidation began with profit growth for its streaming business, pushed up by price rises with subscriber numbers reasonably flat. Emboldened by less churn than expected, Disney+ will be more expensive sooner rather than later
Disney+'s UK reach—a proxy for subscriptions—remains firm but under pressure with engagement materially suffering as the flow of new programming has slowed. Library content is D+'s strength, but viewing of it is correlated with new releases
The creation of sports channel bundle Venu ran the risk of accelerating the decline of Disney's linear business. The service's delay and failure to launch may have given time for the company to reappraise its approach to linear
Vodafone has signalled a tougher outlook in Germany primarily due to a worsening competitive backdrop for mobile.
Although Vodafone has reiterated its guidance for the full year, this now relies heavily on developing countries, with currency risk emerging for FY26.
Investors are likely to be sceptical of the company’s “ambition” to grow in Germany next year, with this seemingly predicated on an improving competitive environment. Nonetheless, the company can point to some early fruits of its turnaround endeavours there, and next year’s trends should be better than the current ones regardless.
“Even without any explicit pressure, the political and moral reasons to avoid X have been lifted by key executives,” said Jamie MacEwan, senior research analyst at Enders Analysis. “X could claw back some of the enormous amount of ground it has lost.”
Broadcaster reach and viewing fell in 2024, but the decline slowed as BVOD growth increasingly makes up for linear decline and the BBC’s viewing grew year-on-year.
SVOD penetration and engagement returned to (slight) growth in 2024 and video-sharing platforms are increasing their share of TV set viewing.
Broadcasters still offer a wider array of programming than SVODs, but they are expanding their offering, as is YouTube.
BT had a solid-but-mixed Q3, with revenue growth slightly weaker than expected, EBITDA growth slightly stronger, and subscriber net adds a touch weak across broadband, mobile and Openreach
The outlook is buoyed by a likely altnet slowdown at some point in FY26, with this set to help subscriber numbers at Consumer/Openreach and pricing at Consumer
The main cloud is the potential effect of a merged Vodafone-Three challenging BT/EE for best network and boosting MVNOs, a challenge we feel is real but manageable for BT
Douglas McCabe, the chief executive of Enders Analysis, says print media – including magazines, books and newspapers – will be hit hardest if WH Smith does not survive or is radically changed under a new owner.
“It’s easy to forget that for a lot of people, WH Smith is the place where they are going to pick up the one or two books they buy a year. Handing it over to the supermarkets is not ideal. What we see with newspapers and magazines, they are not disappearing entirely [from supermarket shelves] but they are retreating to smaller spaces in not the highest footfall areas.”
McCabe from Enders adds that a revamped WH Smith could play to greater interest in physical media among the younger generations, from books and magazine to CDs and vinyl records. “It is cool, partly as it is not the internet. It is not going to send you alerts, it is a separate space,” he says.
Levy, who has spent over two decades at Sky News in roles across production and journalism, is adamant that the traditional breaking and live product will – to the outside observer at least – remain at the forefront of Sky News’ offering. But, according to Bella Monckon, a research analyst at Enders Analysis, that doesn’t stop the overhaul from being one of the the most ambitious – and progressive – of any major news broadcaster in the UK in recent years.
“It’s really quite an active – as opposed to reactive – move from Sky,” she tells City AM. “There are other companies that have done it [abroad] – CNN in the US for example – but as a UK broadcaster they’re on the front foot.”
Bella Monkcom, at Enders Analysis, says: “People will pay for trusted news sources – they already do for many other organisations – especially if you target it as a premium product, as with much of Sky’s offering. You can really get people on board with that.”