Media Outlook 2015: A Survey of UK Media Trends and Firm Capabilities.

Abstract

The aim of this survey is to understand the changing nature of the UK media environment, emerging trends and the management practices of media executives. This is the third year that the survey has run, and already we are seeing immense changes in the way media firms are adapting to a changing competitive landscape. Over the past three years we have asked media executives to comment on their outlook for the UK Media Industry in the year ahead. Overall, their outlook has been optimistic, but continued economic uncertainty still casts a shadow over the operating environment. This year, 89% of media executives were positive in their outlook for the industry in 2015 – down from 94% last year. The majority of media executives (62%) also commented that the industry was experiencing a high rate of turbulence and that it was difficult to protect their core business whilst building new revenue streams. In the previous two years we have identified the management tools that media companies were using and how satisfied they were with them. This year, the focus of the survey has been on assessing media firm capabilities and the ability to adapt media strategy, business models and capabilities to new industry dynamics. All of which has provided some interesting insights! The survey sample again included senior media executives who have responsibility for developing strategy (Head of Strategic Planning, Director of Strategy and Head of Segments Planning) and a number of functional areas (Head of Commercial Policy, Head of Business Development, Vice President Marketing, Director of Programming, Chief Technologist, General Manager, Senior Vice President, Director of Operations, Head of Customer Insight and Director of Sales).