How European Broadcasters Can Compete with Global Streaming Giants
European broadcasters can close the gap with global streamers only by acting as challengers: leveraging national roots, building scale through partnerships and M&A, widening distribution, diversifying revenue, adopting AI and updating regulation.
Summary
A BCG-NativeResearch survey of 3,500 consumers in the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland finds streaming and social video reach 97% of viewers and take 64% of weekly viewing time, with global platforms holding four of the top five spots. Subscription spending is saturating, so ad revenue becomes the next battleground. Broadcasters retain trust and local relevance (71% of consumers see them as relevant) but must adopt a challenger mindset around six imperatives: national roots, scale, digital and social distribution, diversified funding, connected GenAI and regulatory reform.
Editor's opinion
European broadcasters can regain ground against global streaming platforms only by combining their local content and distribution strengths with technology and partnerships.
Key concepts
Challenger mindset · Six imperatives · Broadcaster VOD · Hybrid monetization · Partnerships and M&A