National champions are emerging, who together try to face Netflix and Disney+
The Corona crisis has once again made it clear that Big Tech's business model is particularly strong. Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix: they all continue to thrive. Netflix shows its best side by supporting the local media world in various countries. But the really big boys keep going the old way: maximizing profit by exploiting scalability to the maximum and paying little or no tax in the countries where they operate. The Australian government has had enough of that and is starting in-depth investigations into the tax behavior of these dominant companies.
While Big Tech rages on, the mostly nationally organized media companies are having a hard time. Advertising markets are collapsing everywhere: the Australians are still on the right side of the coin with a 25% drop in turnover, in Europe a drop in turnover of 40% is no exception. The mostly nationally organized media companies have insufficient economies of scale to survive in these tough market conditions. No wonder that people are increasingly looking for forms of cooperation to keep their heads above water.
The most logical form of collaboration can be observed in the field of video-on-demand streaming. National champions are emerging, who together try to face Netflix and Disney+. Examples abound: Britbox in the United Kingdom and Salto in France are examples of broad cooperation between all public and commercial broadcasters. BBC, ITV, Channel 4, TF1, Television Française, M6: they all embrace this form of collaboration. In addition, there are also joint ventures with a limited number of partners: Telenet and VTM will start a joint video service in Belgium in September in Belgium. Discovery is working on new forms of cooperation in several countries. In Germany, the JV with ProSieben has existed for a year with the appealing name Joyn, this year a joint platform with Polsat will start in Poland.
A second form of cooperation is realized by merging the commercial activities. RTL now has a sales house in the Netherlands that carries out sales activities for a series of media companies. The Russian commercial broadcasters went even further and combine all sales activities in one joint venture. The two commercial ruffs in Germany Pro Sieben and RTL started a joint initiative last year, the ad-tech company D-Force. The fact that the German Kartellamt had no objections to this characterizes the changing thinking among the regulators. It was different a few years ago.
A next, more daring step could be for media companies to merge all activities and create local champions who really have a chance against the invasion of Big Tech. Thomas Rabe, the CEO of Bertelsmann and RTL, already threw a ball in the Frankfurter Allgemeine for a few months. According to him, it would not be illogical to merge RTL Germany and Pro Sieben, a remarkable observation. The time seems right, regulators are also aware that the US dominance in the advertising markets is worrying. I am curious whether this will actually become a theme in the boardrooms.
Sports rights holders are rubbing their hands in anticipation, because the value of sports rights is rising sharply. After the huge price hikes of the previous decade, there had been somewhat of a stagnation in recent years. The French Ligue 1 even saw the value of its new multi-year deal drop. But now, a new group of deep-pocketed interested parties has emerged: the streamers are about to make major investments in sports. Specialized sports streamers like DAZN have been active for several years. Market leader Netflix, after broadcasting the Paul/Tyson match, has also discovered the power of live sports. YouTube (more on that in my next column) invested in American football earlier. According to figures from Ampère Analysis, streamers will spend over 12 billion dollars on sports rights this year.
The investments that British-Ukrainian entrepreneur Sir Lech Blavatnik has been making for years are starting to bear some fruit. His company DAZN is growing rapidly and attracting one investor after another. The company is running at a significant loss and has a massive need for financing. This month, according to insiders, the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund paid a billion dollars for less than 10% of the company. With the promise that he’s building the Netflix of sports, Blavatnik has managed to convince investors. As a result, the company has become a tough competitor to pay-TV channels like Sky and is squeezing many public and commercial TV broadcasters even further.
Entertainment streamers, meanwhile, also see the value of sports—and not just for attracting new subscribers. Keeping churn (the cancellation of subscriptions) under control is at least as important from a strategic standpoint. Therefore, Netflix is going to invest in American football. Less dominant players like Peacock and Paramount+ are also heading in that direction—a development that has the National Football League (NFL) rubbing its hands in anticipation. We also know that trends in the U.S. sooner or later make their way to Europe, which will undoubtedly mean that here, too, the value of sports rights will shoot through the roof.
It’s clear, however, that this hasn’t been all smooth sailing. DAZN incurred the wrath of German consumer organizations by hiking its prices for the Bundesliga and the Champions League a little too enthusiastically. Technical problems in Italy plagued the sports streamer, and even Netflix underestimated the impact of a mega-event like the Paul/Tyson match. Those are temporary problems, though—ones that will disappear as streaming technology advances and industry expertise continues to evolve.
Private equity firms see these developments as well and are becoming more and more interested in sports organizations. And here again, the NFL is at the center of attention. After an extensive study, the league concluded that private equity firms (at least to a limited extent, for now) can invest in NFL clubs. Sports are increasingly being valued for what they’re truly worth, because there’s still so much potential in them—due in no small part to streamers taking an interest in the rights. In other words: sports are streaming ahead!
Oege Boonstra begon in de media als commercieel directeur bij facilitair bedrijf NOB en werd later onder andere directeur van de internationale operaties bij Endemol. In 2008 was hij een van de twee oprichters van 3Rivers, waar hij recent is teruggetreden uit de dagelijkse bedrijfsvoering om 3Rivers met raad en daad te blijven bijstaan als non-executive chairman.
Ronald Goes studeerde eerst economie en accountancy. Daarna was hij onder andere CEO bij RTL Productions, betrokken bij de opzet van SBS en meer dan vijf andere tv-zenders in Nederland en bestuurder bij Endemol en Talpa Media. Momenteel leidt hij al meer dan vijftien jaar, vanuit Londen, de wereldwijde productietak van Warner Bros.
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De antwoorden hoor je in de Joost Mag Het Weten podcast
In recent years, money seemed to be endless in the media world. The advertising markets were booming after the COVID crisis, funding for public broadcasting remained largely untouched, and the marketing machines of new video streaming platforms worked overtime. Investments in content were skyrocketing, there was insufficient staff to complete all productions, and the sky seemed to be the limit.
How different things are now. Market leader Netflix, for example, has reduced content investments by a third. Advertising markets have also come under pressure, particularly in Germany. Finally, politics has again started to interfere with broadcasting contributions: in the Netherlands, the budget for public broadcasting was cut by €150 million, and other countries are also pausing to reassess.
It is therefore unsurprising that all media organizations have started to watch their spending. Some have even implemented drastic budget cuts. A good example is Warner Bros. Discovery, where one initiative after another has been announced to achieve billions in savings. The cause is the enormous debt burden the company carries. It must be said that this policy is paying off: the debt has been reduced by a third in three years. A remarkable achievement. It’s hardly surprising that financial engineering played a key role in this process. However, the fact that it is done so openly is. One example: a film like Batgirl, which was already in post-production, was completely written off. The costs were booked "below the line," meaning they did not appear in the profit figures. The reason: the series was considered "non-core business." This kind of accounting trick is being adopted by more media companies.
Another interesting aspect is the funding of public broadcasters. In the Netherlands, under the leadership of the then-almighty Harry Kramer, the broadcasting fee was incorporated into general taxation around the turn of the millennium. It was deemed that the fee was outdated, so it was abolished, and public broadcasting was then funded from general government funds. This had significant disadvantages for public broadcasting: politics could now directly interfere with its financing. The result is well-known: public broadcasting has been facing significant cuts in recent years.
In the United Kingdom, they still use the old system of a television and radio license fee. Everyone who owns a TV must pay £169,50 annually. Many Brits are questioning why this mandatory fee still exists in an era of video services paid for directly. Interestingly, it is considered a legal offence to not pay the license fee. It’s no surprise that it’s now up to creative financial minds. It will be interesting to see what emerges from this: even a tax on broadband connectivity is being considered. A system that Spain recently dismantled. Financial engineering of hand has become the norm in both the public and commercial media domains...