As we near the end of 2022, it’s a good time to look back at some big themes from the past year and think about how they will impact the media business in 2023. 2022 was certainly a transformative year in the media business. We saw ongoing industry consolidation and heightened M&A activity, highlighted by the combination of Discovery and WarnerMedia. This consolidation continues against the backdrop of concerns about media company profitability and the cost-cutting we are now seeing as these firms seek to bolster their bottom lines.

This past year also brought the “streaming wars” to a new phase, with media companies building direct-to-consumer services and consumers increasingly dropping their traditional pay-TV services. This move to streaming represents a profound shift in the way that content is delivered to consumers, and the deals haven’t been limited to VOD. Top-tier live sports got into the game in 2022, as well. High-profile examples include Thursday Night Football moving to Amazon Prime and Major League Soccer signing a 10-year deal with Apple. Even linear TV is moving to streaming, as witnessed by the dramatic growth in FAST channels now available online.

Another significant shift in consumer consumption — the surge in global demand for content, no matter where it’s produced — also proved to be meaningful for the media business in 2022. Consumers worldwide have an insatiable appetite for good content, and media companies have been racing to fill that demand with culturally relevant content that has been localized for each destination market. Looking to improve their profitability, media organizations have stepped up to monetize content across a broader array of geographic regions and markets while creating new audiences.