Media and tech businesses positive on TV, cool on movies

A survey canvassing opinion from a wide-ranging media, broadband and telecoms companies reveals that TV is one of the most profitable areas in which to have a content business. Respondents to Informa Telecoms & Media’s annual industry survey said that apps offered the most potential for profit ahead of TV.

“For all the discussion of Netflix among operators in the last year, however, a view is emerging that a profitable content business does not have to be built around movies,” noted Mark Newman, chief research officer at Informa. “Of our respondents, 36.5% felt that apps were the most potential profitable category of content, followed by TV then games. Only 16.0% of respondents nominated movies. We could see operators moving away from traditional premium content such as movies, if the price is too high and the demand is perhaps exaggerated. Instead, our respondents, especially mobile operators, see the future as app-shaped.”