Media Outlook 2016: A Survey of UK Media Trends and Firm Capabilities

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 fourth 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. 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. As such, this report will not only provide an outlook for the UK Media Industry in the year ahead, but also reflect on some of the trends reported by media executives over the past four years. Overall, the outlook for the industry remains optimistic with 81% of media executives positive about the year ahead. However, increased competition and continued economic uncertainty means that the trend is downwards with figures of 89% in 2015 and 94% in 2014. The survey sample again included senior executives at ‘blue chip’ firms like the BBC, BT, Fox International, ITV, NBC, Sky, Sony, UKTV, Virgin Media, Viacom and The Walt Disney Company to name but a few. These executives have responsibility for developing strategy (eg. Head of Strategic Planning, Director of Strategy, Head of Segments Planning) and a number of functional areas (eg. Head of Commercial Policy, Head of Business Development, Vice President Marketing, Director of Programming, Chief Technologist, Director of Operations, Head of Customer Insight)