Damien Bernet

I couldn't agree more with Jason Kilar, CEO of WarnerMedia prior to the Discovery takeover: the #streaming business can be incredibly attractive for media companies and investors. Kilar recently quoted Charles Darwin, stating, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." We see this natural selection playing out in the #Media industry today. Some companies are adapting, while others are leaning back. To be clear: there is a path to growth, scale, and attractive margins for legacy media companies in streaming. But it requires leaving behind many old management practices and thinking and embracing change and innovation. #Strategy #BusinessGrowth #Innovation #DigitalTransformation #MediaEconomics #Netflix #Leadership #Investing

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Driving the change from #FAST to #VIEWTV! launch #ctvads #ads #VIEWTV is the new sustainable #COMO #contentstrategy for #broadcastmedia, #streamingmedia, and #AVOD content studios across #CTV, #OTT, and #OTTX. #FASTChannels was supassed by #youtube and now has been surpassed by ViewTV's successful content monetization strategy. View TV is #transforming the industry for major broadcasters and content studios with a sustainable and regulated approach to #streaming. #ContentIsKing #Innovation #MediaRevolution #ViewTV #amagi #wurl #ottera #muxip #programmatic #adtech #ctvads #ctvadvertising #tvads #ctvadvertising #broadcasting #streamingmedia #broadcastmedia https://lnkd.in/ek6SPdYA https://lnkd.in/e9ZgystC

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Increased financial pressure on advertisers to optimise their media spend in recent years has contributed to the significant growth in interest on attention over this period. In France, CESP and the advertising research organisation IREP decided to set up a working group to look at best practice in measuring attention across media. In this asiCast our Research Director Richard Marks talks to CESP’s Deputy Managing Director Valerie Morrisson about the work they have been doing ahead of her presentation at this year’s conference in Venice. Is attention a quantative or qualitative factor? Does it further define viewing by tracking eyes on screen or does it rather allow planners to determine how one media option provides a better and more productive level of attention? The work will progress to consider the development of metrics and the need to recognise different levels or thresholds to attention. Such metrics would need to be standardised to form part of a currency for trading purposes though this would be less important if the measures were to be used for planning. Valérie Morrisson will be speaking at this year’s asi International Television & Video Conference on 6th-8th November in Venice, Italy. #attention #effectiveness #media #measurement

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Canal Plus celebrates its 40th birthday today, so its an important time to reflect on its impact. Canal Plus has been at the forefront of Pay TV in Europe, launching on 4th November 1984 and introducing a 'scrambled' subscription TV service. That's just 2 years after the launch of the UK's 'Channel 4' and almost 5 years before the launch of Sky in the UK (February 5th 1989). Channel 4 is an important reference, not just chronologically, but also for brand and content since both Channel 4 and Canal Plus still share similar DNA. Both arrived with highly distinctive on-air brand identities and positioned themselves as distruptors and innovators, challenging the status-quo and providing a space for groundbreaking, avant garde programming. Canal Plus has also been a technical pioneer, launching digital satellite TV in April 1996, 2 years before the launch of Sky Digital. Canal Plus' interactive 'Mediahighway' STBs offered exceptional video and audio quality for the time (Canal Plus has never skimped on video bitrates) and included a modem connection and bank card reader for impulse Pay-Per-View and two-way services. Long before the launch of Sky Digital, French homes could access an electronic programme guide, digital radio services, purchase products through the set-top box, enter competitions and access local weather reports. Although Canal Plus' personal video recorder appeared a little later than Sky+, the 'Pilotime' had a highly distinctive remote and UI which felt years ahead of the competition. As French telcos began to invest in IPTV, Canal Plus doubled-down on its content investments and made sure its services were available across a wider variety of platforms including IPTV, DTT and streaming. It also grew its business internationally into Poland, Sub-Saharan Africa, Vietnam, Myanmar etc. Yet, what many Pay TV operators have failed to adopt is the strategy it uses to maintain a daily dialogue with both subscribers and non-subscribers through its distinctive 'en-clair' (free-to-view) programming: Daily topical and satirical magazine formats which have tracked the major shifts in culture over the past 40 years. These free windows allowed the business to showcase the celebrities, sports stars, actors and directors in the films, series and sporting events behind its pay-wall in a way that was far more effective than a 30 second TV commercial, with this programming playing a significant role in the cultural history of all French TV viewers. Today, with its online presence and the low-cost 'TV+' service (€2 a month) Canal Plus retains an emotional connection with prospective and existing customers. As Canal Plus reaches into more and more territories around the world, it remains a highly distinctive brand and content creator which has had, and continues to have a huge impact on the shape of our industry. It with huge respect and appreciation that we celebrate Canal Plus' 40th birthday! #canalplus #france #paytv #40ans

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A great read! First and foremost we're proud of the mentioning of @smartocto in the latest https://lnkd.in/e4xBxGD6 regarding the User Needs Model 2.0 (check https://lnkd.in/eaTrj4Nk) that we created with the brilliant Dmitry Shishkin And today Stefan ten Teije wrote a great blogpost about it. Please let me know what your 2 pennies are !! #smartocto #contentstrategy #userneeds https://lnkd.in/etP_7Cqj

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Many thanks #ASBU for the opportunity to chair a panel dedicated to leveraging #Ai for content #personalization at this week's 24ᵗʰ ASBU Festival in #Tunis. We had a great set of speakers: Laura Ellis from the BBC shared the need for a public service algorithm to target content and drive audience #engagement. Thabet CHAAOURI from France Télévisions demystified Large Language Models #LLM and explained how Retrieval-Augmented Generation #RAG systems can drive smart chatbots. Lorenzo Canale from Rai - Radiotelevisione Italiana quizzed the audience to demonstrate the difficulty to detect fake media and the potential ethical dilemmas that result from Ai bias for discrimination and stereotyping. Finally, Sammer Elia from Viaccess-Orca showcased how big data, content personalization, and responsible streaming pave the way to a new era of #Broadcast2dot0

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Good strategies are hard to build—and even harder to keep relevant. In this piece, I dive into the shifts transforming the media industry in the year and what to do about them. For the short of time, here's the TL: DR 🎥 The Creator Economy dominates: YouTube now drives 10% of US-connected TV content. News influencers? One in five Americans follow them. 🎙️ Podcasts go visual: Over 400M hours of podcasts are watched monthly on YouTube. Visual-first podcasts = fresh audiences. 📈 Niche media thrives: Newsletters, podcasts, and events dominate. Generalist brands struggle to keep up with their depth and speed. 📉 Legacy brands decline: Speaking of generalist brands, reinvention continues to be hard, witness the challenges at storied names like CNN, The Washington Post and The Observer. Sunday titles are particularly compromised. 🤖 AI moves from novelty to necessity, transforming workflows and reshaping strategies. Bottom line? The media game has changed. Growth lies in adapting to the creator economy’s explosive potential, leveraging brand strength, and building strategies for the future, not last year.

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DAZN’s Acquisition of Foxtel: A Bellwether Kickoff to 2025 2025 begins with a bang in the world of sports streaming and legacy Media, as DAZN’s acquisition of Foxtel for AUD 3.4 billion sets the tone for a transformative year. The sale-valued at a compelling 7x EBITDA—congrats Newscorp- marks the end of an era for a legacy pay-TV business that faced a 50% decline in cable subscribers since 2015. This move isn’t just a financial win; it signals a broader strategic pivot. By exiting the sports rights bidding wars, News Corp is derisking its portfolio and relinquishing decades of dominance in Australian sports and entertainment, including its hold over cultural staples like AFL, NRL, and cricket. But this story is about more than News Corp’s shift—it’s about a defining moment in the battle for sports viewers globally. Australia, one of the most sports-obsessed nations in the world, is now a testing ground for DAZN and the transitioning of Sports rights to streaming platforms. With Australians spending more per capita on live sports content than nearly any other nation, DAZN’s challenge will be to succeed in a fiercely competitive and highly fragmented streaming market. The deal provides Immediate Scale for DAZN ( 2.3 million streaming subs via Kayo + Binge) and access to iconic Sports rights (AFL and cricket) and robust local infrastructure. A caveat is Australia’s anti-siphoning laws which mandates free-to-air availability for marquee events, limiting exclusivity and forcing DAZN into a shared-rights ecosystem. DAZN can counter this by providing a global platform for Australian leagues like AFL offering international reach Global sports rights expansion is costly, and monetising premium content in Australia’s saturated market will be no small feat. 75% of Australian households subscribe to at least one streaming service, the market is both lucrative and saturated. Yet, anti-siphoning regulations pose a challenge for streamers like DAZN, requiring creative approaches to stand out—think supplementary content, personalized experiences, and global promotion of local sports. Note: News Corp isn’t completely out of the game, retaining a 6% equity stake in DAZN—hedging its bets on the future of sports streaming without the operational complexities. The acquisition is more than just a financial exit—it’s a bellwether for the intensifying clash between legacy local media and global streamers in 2025. DAZN’s play for Australia will be a key test case for global sports strategy in one of the most passionate and challenging sports markets. Will DAZN rise to the challenge, or will anti-siphoning and fierce competition stall its ambitions? Will we see other legacy media following Newscorp's example and voting to opt out of the critical sports rights arms race? Share your thoughts below!

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As Paramount Global evaluates its strategy for all of its linear and streaming assets, multiple sources tell me that Pluto TV’s co-founder and current CEO of Paramount Streaming has been in discussions with the company about repurchasing it. These discussions started before the Skydance deal was announced, but I’m told no valuation has been placed on Pluto TV, and no official offer numbers have been exchanged. Interestingly, during the Paramount Global all-hands meeting on June 25th, employees say the company didn’t mention or include any reference to Pluto TV during the newly announced go-forward plan. Those who sat in smaller internal meetings also say the brand was absent from the discussions. Since the Skydance deal was announced, Skydance has featured Pluto TV as one of the six core pillars of the company on slide ten of its presentation. However, that doesn’t guarantee that Pluto TV, or any other content brand, will be part of the company going forward. During a call with investors after the Skydance deal was announced, Jeff Shell stated, “Current management is also talking about a couple of transactions that, if they get the right price, we’ll be supportive of.” So Paramount Global’s current management team can sell off assets and make deals they think will help the new management team as long as the new management team is consulted. Full story: https://lnkd.in/eNuRDyxi

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Did you know? Amagi Corporation is trusted by two-thirds of the top 100 global media brands.  I'm excited to share an interview of Jay Ganesan in which he discusses how AI is transforming content creation, distribution, and viewer engagement and how Amagi is contributing to the process. Discover more about our journey and the future of media technology - link in the first comment.

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💫 Looking ahead to #CannesLions next week! 💫 With Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity opening its doors next week, promising a blend of iconic thought leadership and content from the world’s most innovative brands, a much-anticipated crescendo of creative celebration will come to its peak. Amongst all the conversations, myself and the TDC PR crew will be particularly interested in the factors affecting #CMOs. We’ll see some of the world’s most influential CMOs gather in one place to celebrate, present and learn. Elements of the Cannes Lions programme such as ‘CMOs in the Spotlight’ will also provide a pivotal platform for leading voices to discuss a variety of topics, from marketing investment priorities in the next 18 months to measuring and communicating the value of marketing within businesses, as well as identifying which new skills are growing in importance for today’s CMOs. These sessions that will provide invaluable insights for us as an integrated communications agency. What’s keeping CMOs awake at night? Truly understanding the world of the CMO is critical to the success of the communications campaigns we create for our clients. When communicating to the C-Suite audience through top tier business media, insights such as these help us continue to navigate what is, in essence, a design conversation into a global business world.  Watch this space for observations from next week! #CannesLions2024 #Csuite #CMO #businessgrowth #design #marketing

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As Content London kicks off this week, C21Media is featuring some thoughts from wedotv's Chris Sharp on the importance of maintaining a strong acquisitions strategy as a platform and content distributor. Read it via your subscription to C21. Here is an excerpt: Why investing in content remains a streaming priority By Chris Sharp 02-12-2024 In a time when many of the biggest streaming platforms are scaling back on their content investments and increasing subscription prices, mid-size and smaller platforms have a unique opportunity to capture a larger share of the market. But it’s not just a matter of offering free, ad-supported options to lure subscription-weary consumers in. Once they arrive on your door, you better have something compelling to make them stay and, more importantly, come back. Acquiring content over producing it has been the game plan of a lot of services over the years – even broadcast, cable channels, and SVoD services. It is more economical. But that doesn’t mean you can get away with dumping a lot of movies and TV series on your channel without refreshing your library. When consumers come to your service, there should always be something new and exciting for them to watch. Two of the main reasons any subscriber/viewer chooses a TV service are 1) choice and 2) value. If one of those is missing, you’re likely to experience churn. This seems elementary, but a lot of platforms and channels being launched seem to load up on library content without a lot of planning for the future. It’s the ‘catch as catch can’ strategy. And that might work for pop-up channels, but if you’re trying to build an audience over time and grow by securing more distribution, you will need to invest in programming and establish a track record for increasing and maintaining viewership numbers. I’ve witnessed the benefits of having an active and vibrant content acquisitions strategy in all the channels I’ve worked with over the years. Now, with ad-supported channels, including FAST, the proof that this is highly effective is more evident than ever. At wedotv, we not only refresh our content frequently, but we also license content specifically for our dedicated services in Germany, UK, Italy, the Nordics, Benelux, the Middles East, Africa and Brazil. A new injection of content invariably boosts engagement and viewing time. Wedotv’s monthly active users are up 30% in the last six months and average viewing time is up 40%. More at https://lnkd.in/gG5xRzVU

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Sky goes full in on #streaming "Sky in the UK is to launch a new sports streaming offering, Sky Sports+, that will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service Now and a revamped Sky Sports mobile app. Launching this August, Sky Sports+ will offer a much broader range of sporting content via concurrent live streams, the mobile app and a dedicated new channel, at no extra cost to subscribers, according to Sky." This will start like most other SVOD platforms, in alliance with the #paytv side, the big difference here is that the pay-tv partner is Sky's main business. It clearly doesn't want to cannibalise its business, and so its offering it for free to its subscribers. "Customers with a full Sky Sports subscription will have immediate access to Sky Sports+ across Sky Glass, Sky Stream, Sky Q, and Now. As part of the Sky Sports+ launch, Now members will also be able to pause and rewind live sports content for the first time." How will it outreach to non-subscribers? And, will this influence a slow migration away from Sky's #traditionaltv platform? The platform offers more than what Sky's pay-tv platform currently offers, allowing "Sky Sports+ will have the capability to show up to 100 live events via concurrent streams, while a dedicated Sky Sports+ linear channel will showcase a selection of the best live sport, according to the pay TV broadcaster." It will also offer more football matches "the launch of Sky Sports+ coincides with the start of a new long-term partnership with the English Football League (EFL), with over 1,000 EFL games a season featuring every team more than 20 times, and every Championship club on at least 24 occasions." I wonder if this includes the blackout games, those games in the UK blacked out to promote going to stadiums to watch games. If so, that could be a real game-changer. Now, it seems Sky is shifting away from Pay TV. It won't be immediate, it's not pushing its clients at all in any direction, its trying to facilitate convenience for existing legacy clients, as well as innovation for them and new clients. However, it may well seem to be an inevitable shift towards #streamingtv #streamingplatforms #television #tvindustry #skysports #livesports #livetv #livefootball #sports #sky https://lnkd.in/eVe2r-qp

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Thanks to BBC News for having me on their show to discuss Netflix’s earnings and the streaming competition. Here are my key takeaways: - The ad opportunity for Netflix is vast, and in 2026, the company expects AVOD to become the primary growth driver in their business. Members to Netflix's AVOD plan grew 34% in Q1, as 45% of new member signups opted for the ad tier (among eligible markets). - Netflix’s decision to stop reporting subscriber metrics next year should not concern Wall Street. The company has been reinforcing that, over time, its business will move from a high-growth, low-profit business to a slow-growth, high-profit business. Netflix said it is on track to achieve its "critical scale" goals in all its ad markets by FY25, which is expected to increase its cash flow. - Based on an AMA metric, I expect Netflix's stream of the NFL games on Christmas to be the largest streaming event ever in the US. Last year, the Las Vegas Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs drew an average audience of more than 29 million viewers on CBS, making it the most-watched Christmas Day game in 34 years. - Wall Street felt Netflix's Q3 revenue guidance was a bit light, but Q3 is always a slower quarter for Netflix in terms of growth. The company raised its 2024 margin guide again to 26% vs the prior 25% outlook. #netflix #streamingmedia #SVOD #AVOD #adtech #paytv #cordcutting

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Evan Shapīro predicts in 2025 "BUY RETAIL: Walmart just digested VIZIO. Amazon turned football into a shopping cart. The VMA’s were totes shoppable. That’s just the start. In 2025 Retail Media will set up permanent shop on the CTV." 👏 👏 🚀 🚀

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I'm particularly interested in Paul Gubbins' answer to the question "is the advertising on CTV innovative enough"? I agree that features such as "shopability" will be additive to both advertiser and consumer, however, the programmatic revolution in CTV is bringing innovation via i) accessibility and ii) addressability. A lot of that innovation drives campaign efficiency, targeting, etc, which is not as obvious as a big new shiny format or a new "interactivity" for consumers. But, ss Gubbins says, "It's television advertising". I remember a Rory Sutherland interview once (i think it was him), where he talked about the missed opportunity of selling early video conferencing solutions. It was marketed as "save money on flights to see your customers, just use this video phone" - so a poor man's airline ticket, rather than a rich man's phone. CTV (particularly programmatic access to advertising) is the rich man's telephone already. There's plenty of work to do, and therefore opportunity, around programmatic CTV buying - particularly with live sports - but the innovation is already here and developing at a massive pace.

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Let’s see how this one plays out . It depends if customers are able to select services individually for the bundle or served with a mix including services they may not want. The length of time locked in to the deal is also a consideration.

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