The Western world’s media industry is losing viewers. The pie is being cut into increasingly small slices of niche viewers that are often mixing it up with YouTube thought leaders, or niche content on social media apps like Twitch. Only around a third of those under 30 subscribe to the New York Times. At least 50% of Fox and MSNBC nightly viewers are over 50.
In the U.S., some podcasting talk show stars like Joe Rogan have more viewers than highly paid CNN staffers like Don Lemon. With that in mind, why would anyone want to invest in the media landscape? Surely, what’s happening in the U.S., will one day come to Brazil and India next.
But an ex-BBC Russia Exec, Wesley Dodd, isn’t scared. (Granted, if you can survive two years as a British newshound in Russia, you probably have nerves of steel, skin like Teflon.) There’s a reason for it, though. The shrinking cost structure and the general implosion of big media has created an opportunity for his now 7-year-old firm Celebro. In short, they are a studio outsourcer, content creator on the news side, and is generally there to be the temporary on-demand studio for local news outlets, and other media firms grappling with weaker revenues, and in some cases, disappearing viewers.
Forbes listed billionaire Carlos Slim owns TV networks in Mexico that are increasingly dependent on … [+]
NurPhoto via Getty Images
Celebro recently opened studios in New York, Miami and are now going after Las Vegas and Silicon Valley.
The real growth is in emerging market media. They, too, will be facing a downsizing frenzy in the years ahead.
“We have our sights set on 100 TV companies who we had identified as clients in Latin America, India and the Middle East,” says Dodd. The new roll out will open studios in Mexico City, Rio, Buenos Aires and Bogotá in early 2022, then Delhi, Mumbai and Karachi in Summer 2022. Their only emerging market now is Russia. In London, Moscow, and now in the United States, they work mainly with Fox, BBC, CNN, Al Jazeera and CGTN. They also sell breaking news spots to around 20 National Broadcasters like Caracol Columbia.
All of this is a little different from the aching global news media market, though. Their pie is rather ‘meh’, but the pie the likes of Celebro is baking is a little sweeter, bigger, and growing.
The TV broadcast services market, which is where Celebro operates, is growing. The global television services market size is expected to reach $499.8 million in the next five years, with at a growth rate of 5.4% from 2021 to 2027, according to a report published this month by Allied Market Research. For comparison, the global broadcast media market is seen growing at a compound annual growth rate of 2.4%.
Servicing broadcast news is better than being the broadcast news.
DataBridge
It’s Better in India
The reason every corporate (and portfolio) investor loves emerging markets is growth rates. Europe is a dinosaur. The U.S. is still interesting, especially for those servicing already existing media empires. India is forever expanding.
In 2024, television will make up 40% of the Indian media industry, 13% by print media, which is mostly the big daily newspapers. By 2024, India’s combined news and entertainment media industry is expected to reach $39 billion with a compound annual growth rate over the next three years of 9%, double the industry average for broadcast media service. This is not exactly comparing apples to apples. More like comparing granny smith apples to red delicious. It’s a close indicator of market demand, and India is where it is at.
The offices of New Delhi Television (NDTV) in New Delhi, India. (Photo by Pradeep Gaur/Mint via … [+]
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
India holds the most potential of any market in the world and its rate of growth will see total streaming video revenue overtake that of South Korea, Germany and Australia to become the 6th largest market for the likes of Indian Joe Rogan’s and Twitch rockstar gamers looking for studio space as they outgrow their home studio over the next three years, thinks Invest India, an Indian government investment promotion authority.
Mexico: Big Media, Big Government, Big Billionaires
Based on data compiled by Statista, the mass broadcast media sector as share of gross domestic product in Mexico has been in freefall between 2007 and 2019. Yet, the value of news and entertainment broadcast media market is expected to rise over the next three years, though not as fast as India’s.
Mexico’s Big Media isn’t going broke. It’s owned by the country’s oligarchs, and they survive on government ads. The medium sized ones, however, do not. They’re the target of companies like Celebro. Forbes billionaires Carlos Slim Helú (UnoTV), Ricardo Salinas Pliego (TV Azteca) and Emilio Azcárraga Jean (Televisa) might even become clients if they want to save a peso.
Further south, Brazil’s media market is similar. It is dominated by three news channels, led by Globo, which is in the middle of waging a war against the government for cutting its advertising and other spending. It is unclear if Globo is really in trouble due to its near-monopoly status, but Brazil’s media landscape is rich and it will trend along with the United States faster than Mexico does in terms of outsourcing news staff, studio space, and the growth of social media influencers also looking for studio space as a niche segment for broadcast service firms.
The value of the news and entertainment market in Brazil from 2014 to 2023 has been on a steady rise, similar to that of Mexico, according to Statista. Over the last 8 years ending 2018, growth of new news players has flatlined. Ad spending collapsed last year by nearly half for magazines and newspapers, and was kept alive by government and medical ads in 2020. It is unclear what kind of cost cutting will come of this, but that kind of headwind for newsrooms and content creators in general is a market for Celebro.
Wesley Dodd, CEO of Celebro Media in London. The broadcasting services space is growing in emerging … [+]
Courtesy of Celebro
“We don’t feel that local broadcasters are our target market,” says Dodd. “Many of the big state or national broadcasters are slimming down, buying our services by the day or the hour is much more cost effective than running their own bureau now,” he says. “This is particular true of the Latin American market who need and want a presence in cities like Miami or Mexico City but don’t want the hassle of running a bureau. Because we ‘pool’ the resources in each location- the cost of a cameraman for a day is peanuts compared to a full-time staff cameraman.
First Channel in Russia do not have a studio in D.C from which to make a full show, but they can buy an hour In Celebro’s multi-million-dollar studio in D.C. This really allows ‘smaller‘ channels to punch above their weight,” Dodd says.
For Celebro, currently in expansion mode in the U.S. this year, the best markets are those where nations are looking to expand their content, national stories, or their government’s soft power overseas.
“A glossy TV channel is the ‘must have’ for an emerging nation,” says Dodd. “We allow a news channel to show that they have a point of presence in multiple key cities – a bureau with their own reporters but using Celebro facilities. Remember that in some countries there will be more than one such channel. Look how much comes out the Gulf nations today,” he says.
Back in the U.S., more bad news for the traditional news and entertainment business anyway (virtual reality and gaming are going bonkers): subscription TV revenue of $94.2 billion in 2019 will continue to contract by around 3% a year for the next three years, PwC said in a report.
“The amount of news content globally is still growing,” says Dodd. “We are seeing the emerging markets wanting to have their own BBC/RT/CNN. It’s a way of projecting their muscle abroad, and we are here to help.”
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VICTORIA — Premier David Eby has pushed the pause button on a contentious bill that would have allowed the province to recover health care and other costs attributed to the marketing of risky products in B.C.
Two dozen business and industry groups had called for the New Democrats to put the bill on hold, claiming it was so broadly drafted that it could be used to go after producers, distributors and retailers of every kind.
“It is safe to say that we got the attention of these major multinational companies,” the premier told reporters on Tuesday, citing the deal with Meta, Snapchat, TikTok and X, the major players in the field.
“They understand our concern and the urgency with which we’re approaching this issue. They also understand the bill is still there.”
The New Democrats maintain that the legislation was never intended to capture the many B.C. companies and associations that complained about it.
Rather it was targeted at Facebook owner Meta and other social media companies and the online harm done to young people. A prime example was the suicide of a Prince George youth who was trapped by an online predator.
Still, there was nothing in the wording of Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, to indicate its application would be confined to social media companies or their impact on young people.
Some critics wondered if the bill’s broad-based concept of harms and risks could be used to prosecute the liquor board or the dispensers of safer-supply drugs, products with proven harms greater than any sugary drink.
Perhaps thinking along those lines, the government specifically exempted itself from prosecution under the Act.
This week’s announcement came as a surprise. As recently as Monday, Attorney General Niki Sharma told reporters the government had no intention of putting the bill on hold.
Tuesday, she justified her evasion by saying the talks with the social media companies were intense and confidential.
She said the pause was conditional on Meta and the other companies delivering a quick response to government concerns.
“British Columbians expect us to take action on online safety,” she told reporters. “What I’ll be looking for at this table is quick and immediate action to get to that better, safety online.”
A prime goal is addressing online harassment and “the online mental health and anxiety that’s rising in young people,” she said
“I want to sit down with these companies look at them face to face and see what they can do immediately to improve the outcomes for British Columbians.”
Meta has already committed to rectifying Eby’s concern that it should relay urgent news about wildfires, flood and other disasters in B.C. Last year, those were blocked, collateral damage in the company’s hardball dispute with the federal government over linking to news stories from Canadian media companies.
Eby says he was very skeptical about the initial contact from the companies. Now he sees Meta’s willingness to deliver emergency information as a “major step” and he’s prepared to give talks the benefit of the doubt.
Not long ago he was scoring political points off the social media companies in the harshest terms.
“The billionaires who run them resist accountability, resist any suggestion that they have responsibility for the harms that they are causing,” said the premier on March 14, the day Bill 12 was introduced.
Given those characterizations, perhaps the big, faceless billionaires will simply direct their negotiating team to play for time until the legislation adjourns as scheduled on May 16.
“The legislation is not being pulled and we’re not backtracking,” said Sharma. “We can always come back and bring legislation back.”
The government could schedule a quick makeup session of the legislature in late May or June or even in early September, before the house is dissolved for the four-week campaign leading up to the scheduled election day, Oct. 19.
More likely, if the New Democrats feel doublecrossed, they could go back to war with the faceless billionaires with a view to re-enacting Bill 12 after a hoped-for election victory.
Even if the New Democrats get some satisfaction from the social media companies in the short term, they have also framed Bill 12 as a way to force the marketers of risky products to help cover the cost of health care and other services.
B.C.’s attorney general says the province can bring the online harms legislation back but it will first seek remedies through negotiations with social media companies.Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The British Columbia government has agreed to shelve proposed legislation that would have allowed it to sue social-media companies for online harms after Meta, TikTok and others agreed to work with the province to put voluntary protections in place.
The social-media companies have not agreed to anything other than talks, but Attorney-General Niki Sharma credited the proposed legislation with bringing the key players to the province’s door.
“Our bill was able to get the attention of some pretty big companies out there and get them to the table with us, and I’m pleased with that,” she told reporters Tuesday.
The government can bring the bill back, she said, but it will first seek remedies through negotiations. “We could be locked in litigation for years, but at this stage it’s my obligation to see if we can come to some kind of improvements,” Ms. Sharma said.
Premier David Eby said the agreement was hammered out after Meta reached out to the province. A spokesperson for the company could not immediately be reached for comment.
Danielle Morgan, a spokesperson for TikTok, said her company is committed to developing new safeguards. “We look forward to joining Premier Eby and working with industry counterparts … to discuss best practices towards our shared goal of keeping young people safe online.”
The province introduced Bill 12, the Public Health Accountability and Cost Recovery Act, in March with the promise that it would allow government to recover costs associated with the promotion, marketing and distribution of products that are harmful to adults and children in the province.
But while the bill received the support of researchers who study the impact of some platforms on mental well-being, particularly in teenagers, the broad scope of the legislation alarmed business leaders who warned it could be used to target companies well beyond social-media platforms.
“The net spread so widely, it could capture just about anything you could imagine,” said Bridgitte Anderson, president and chief executive officer of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade. She said the provincial government heard the concerns of many different sectors when it withdrew the bill from this spring’s legislative agenda. “We’re delighted the government is going to hit pause on this.”
The B.C. bill was tabled just weeks after Ottawa introduced Bill C-63 to create a new Online Harms Act, which is meant to hold tech platforms accountable for the content they host.
Kaitlynn Mendes, a professor of sociology at Ontario’s Western University, is an expert on the impact of online harms on youth, including sexual exploitation, self-harm, anxiety and anti-social behaviour.
She said the B.C. government is being optimistic in thinking it can bring social-media giants into line without a legal cudgel.
“I think that is wishful thinking. Industries don’t want to be governed. They’d rather have codes of conduct but that relies on them being good faith actors – ultimately, they are going to act in their best interests. I’d be skeptical that it’s going to change anything,” she said in an interview.
“I really hope the Canadian government doesn’t try to rely on deals. We need to have structures in place to hold these companies accountable.”
Mr. Eby issued a joint statement on Tuesday with representatives from Meta, TikTok, Snap and X, saying they have reached an agreement to work to help young people stay safe online through the new BC Online Safety Action Table.
“Digital platforms are powerful tools, which can connect family members and loved ones and are places where we find like-minded people. Places where community is built and sustained. But the internet is also a place where criminals and scammers are constantly seeking new ways to find and extort potential victims,” the joint statement said.
Mr. Eby championed the pursuit of tackling social-media harms after meeting with the grieving parents of Carson Cleland, a 12-year-old who killed himself last October after being sexually victimized online.
“Carson was deceived by an online predator, tormented and sexually extorted. He took his own life before his parents were aware of what was happening,” the statement continued. “Premier Eby made a promise to Carson’s parents that his government would find ways to make sure Carson left behind a legacy that will help protect other young people.”
The province will place Bill 12 on hold while the parties meet to discuss how to protect youth from online harms before they happen.
Ms. Sharma said there are three areas B.C. wants addressed: sexual exploitation of youth online; rising mental-health issues and anxiety among young people; and online harassment and bullying.
B.C.’s bill was modelled on its efforts to seek damages from major tobacco companies over tobacco-related health costs. The province was the first Canadian jurisdiction to launch such a lawsuit, in 1998, but that case is not yet resolved – underscoring the lengthy process involved in reaching a resolution.
Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.
Opening arguments began in former President Donald Trump’s criminal trial on Monday, with much of the news media coverage homing in on as many details as possible about the proceedings.
Jon Stewart called the trial a “test of the fairness of the American legal system, but it’s also a test of the media’s ability to cover Donald Trump in a responsible way.”
Jimmy Kimmel’s sidekick, Guillermo Rodriguez, took the stage with Madonna in Mexico City over the weekend.
The economist Stephanie Kelton will chat with Jordan Klepper and Ronny Chieng, the guest co-hosts, on Tuesday’s “Daily Show.”
In “Under the Bridge,” Hulu’s chilling new series, Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone investigate the murder of a teenager.
Remnants of bird flu virus found in pasteurized milk, FDA says
Mayor's youth advisory council seeks submissions for art gala – SooToday
"Hi, It's Me": NASA's Voyager 1 Phones Home From 15 Billion Miles Away – NDTV
Bird flu virus found in grocery milk as officials say supply still safe
Some Canadians will be digging out of 25+ cm of snow by Friday – The Weather Network
Jon Stewart Slams the Media for Coverage of Trump Trial – The New York Times
Taxes should not wag the tail of the investment dog, but that’s what Trudeau wants
Peel police chief met Sri Lankan officer a court says ‘participated’ in torture – Global News
