Blog: ITV

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

The BBC, Channel 4, and the risk of giving too much to YouTube

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

YouTube

Netflix

Key insights from this blog: As YouTube has skyrocketed in popularity, it has become an unexpected challenge for the UK's public service broadcasters These broadcasters are also facing challenges from streaming services, which can afford bigger budget productions and big-name talent MIDiA explores how public service broadcasters can avoid pitfalls and survive in an evolving television landscape The BBC, Channel 4, and ITV have made some great strides adapting to a world where YouTube is becoming front and centre of TV viewing.

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FAST can help video services win the streaming wars… but it’s about more than just ads

Ben Woods

21 Mar 2023

FAST

SVOD

AVOD

Earlier this month, the subscription streaming service DAZN took an uncharacteristic decision around its women’s sports coverage. Rather than using traditional marketing to coax viewers towards subscribing, the sports streamer opted for the in-vogue monetisation model known as free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST).

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English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up

Alistair Taylor

17 Dec 2020

English Premiership Rugby

Amazon

tech major

Tech major Amazon is reportedly looking to add to its burgeoning sports right portfolio, targeting the domestic broadcast rights for English Premiership Rugby. London Irish owner, Mick Crossan, confirmed the giant’s entry into the tender process to the Mail on Sunday , following Amazon’s experiment with live streaming rugby after its acquisition and £20 million lifeline for the exclusive UK broadcast rights to last months’ inaugural Autumn Nations Cup .

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Collapsing Maul: Sport Facing Global Rights Re-valuations

Alistair Taylor

4 May 2020

All Blacks

All or Nothing

broadcast rights

The English Gallagher Premiership Rugby provides another case study that demonstrates just how significant COVID-19’s impact on rights holders is likely to be moving forward, as it faces a substantial drop in the value of its broadcast rights.

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Six Nations Behind a Paywall: Can Rugby Afford to Bench Free-To-Air?

Alistair Taylor

6 Mar 2020

business model

consumption habits

cricket

Six Nations organisers are reportedly considering awarding the exclusive distribution rights for its annual competition to pay-TV operator Sky, in an unprecedented £300 ($384) million deal. Organisers have said they ‘would not rule anything out’ as the Rugby Paper reported the championship would go behind a paywall on Sky .

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BT Sport’s Key Ingredient for Competing in an Increasingly Saturated Landscape

Alistair Taylor

22 Nov 2019

American football

basketball

broadcast audience

The strategic dilemma as to whether rights holders should seek revenue over reach when allocating domestic rights is inevitably impacted by how dependent services are on premium rights for securing subscriber revenue.

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Is Pay-TV killing off Niche Sports?

Alistair Taylor

4 Jul 2019

Awareness

BBC

BBC One

With both the ICC Cricket World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup approaching their climaxes, the stark difference in audience engagement raises the question, is pay-TV killing off niche sports? Deciding the medium through which to distribute live sports has never been more crucial.

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Mediapro Offers Eleven Sports a UK Lifeline!

Alistair Taylor

21 Mar 2019

ad-supported model

BT Sport

carriage partnerships

Streaming service Eleven Sports will now have to table a new offer to maintain its UK La Liga rights, as Mediapro (the agency selling La Liga’s international rights) decides to return La Liga to the UK media rights tender market ahead of the 2019/2022 season.

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Netflix Is Now The Fifth Highest Ranked TV Network For Show Fandom

Tim Mulligan

28 Sep 2017

Amazon

AMC

BBC

We are proud to announce the inaugural results of our new TV Show Brand Tracker. The findings reveal how streaming is impacting TV show audiences and which networks are performing best. Based on data from more than 60 TV shows across the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory is the leading TV show in terms of audience fandom, followed by NCIS (also CBS), with the BBC’s Sherlock in third place.

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The Challenge Of Creating Disruptive Pioneers In The TV Industry

Tim Mulligan

31 Mar 2017

Amazon

Dish

At this year’s TV Connect, the headline industry panel was on creating disruptive pioneers. The participants included Mark Wilson-Dunn -the Vice President of BT Media and Broadcast Enterprises, Faz Aftab -Online Commercial & Tech Director at ITV, Felix Tang -Vice President of Huawei Hybrid Video Product Line, and myself as a video industry analyst.

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