The first quarter of 2024 marked 1,7% growth in global revenue Media & Entertainment sector, down slightly compared to 2,1% the previous year. Among the most significant trends, the strong one stands out growth of streaming services, which recorded an increase of 12,5%, representing 20,4% of the overall turnover of the sector. This overtaking saw streaming surpass the Traditional Pay TV, which fell to 20,1% with a contraction of 3,2%. At the same time, content production and distribution suffered a decline of 8,1%, partly due to the prolonged strike of actors and screenwriters in Hollywood.
This is what emerges from the Media & Entertainment reports ofMediobanca Studies Area, which examines the main operators from 2019 to 2024, including the 21 largest private players in the world and a comparison of the major European public television groups.
Streaming on the rise: Netflix, Disney and Amazon at the top
In the first quarter of 2024, subscriptions to major streaming platforms grew by 2,4%. Netflix continues to dominate the market with almost 270 million users, holding 26,9% of the S-Vod market and recording an increase of 3,6% compared to December 2023. Walt Disney, with its Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ services, follows with around 230 million subscribers, while Amazon exceeded 200 million. Warner Bros Discovery e Paramount Global they complete the top five with almost 100 million and over 70 million subscribers respectively.
Mergers and acquisitions: the race for consolidation
The 8,1% decrease in content production and distribution revenues was influenced by the long Hollywood strike, which shut down studios for 118 days in 2023. To address the expansion of streaming, major US operators are implementing strategies to consolidation. In the United States, six large mergers have been completed since 2018, and approval was given in July 2024. merger between Paramount and Skydance. Similar movements are also observed in Europe, such as the takeover bid by Canal + su MultiChoice and the acquisition by the Mfe Group of a significant portion of ProSiebenSat.1.
Performance of the international giants
In 2023, the 21 largest international private operators generated aggregate revenues of €361,6 billion, an increase of 2% compared to 2022, 85% of which came from the United States. Comcast leads the ranking with revenues of 110 billion euros, followed by Walt Disney and Netflix. Vivendi is the first non-US group in the Top 10, with 10,5 billion euros, while Rtl Group ranks ninth with 6,2 billion euros. The average EBIT margin was 11,8% in 2023, down 0,6 percentage points from the previous year. Netflix and Comcast stand out with high profitability, at 20,6% and 19,2% respectively, while other companies such as ViaPlay, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount and ProSiebenSat.1 recorded negative profitability.
In Italy turnover of 8,9 billion in 2023
In Italy, the broadcasting sector saw an increase of 1,6% in 2023, reaching 8,9 billion euros. Free-to-air TV generated 4,8 billion euros (+0,2%), pay TV 3,4 billion euros (+3%) and radio 0,6 billion euros (+4,9% ). Despite this, traditional Pay TV continues to lose ground, with a contraction of 4,9%, while S-VoD services show double-digit growth (+10,4%). Streaming now represents 53% of pay TV revenues. Rai, Sky e Mediaset they remain the main operators in the Italian market, contributing 77% of the sector's total revenues. Rai confirms its leadership with 2,7 billion euros in revenues, followed by Sky (2,1 billion euros) and Mediaset (2 billion euros).
Rai license fee: the lowest in Europe
For 2024, one is expected 2% growth in revenues of the main Italian operators, supported by the recovery of the advertising market (+5%) and by the increase in streaming subscriptions. However, with the S-Vod market near saturation and consumer purchasing power decreasing, increasing competition is expected in the A-Vod and Subscription AD-supported segment.
Finally, the report highlights the need for a adaptation of regulations on the television license fee to reflect the new methods of multi-device use and the change in the use of content. In Italy, the Rai license fee is the lowest among the main European countries, at just 0,25 euros per day per subscriber, compared to the European average of 0,34 euros. In comparison, German public TV costs 0,60 euros per day and British public TV 0,51 euros. At a European level, the process of abolishing the license fee continues: in 2022, only 10 countries (37%) collected it, compared to around 50% in 2019. The last nation to abolish the license fee was France, in 2022.
