Media Industry Profile

Companies in this industry produce, process, or distribute information and entertainment content. US-based media conglomerates include AT&T (owner of Time Warner), Comcast (owner of NBCUniversal), Disney, and ViacomCBS, all of which have a global sphere of influence. Major companies based outside the US include Germany's Bertelsmann and ProSiebenSat.1 Media.

Globally, the media industry generates about $4 trillion in annual revenue. The Asia/Pacific region accounts for the largest share of spending on media, followed by North America and Western Europe, according to McKinsey & Company. Looking ahead, the strongest revenue growth is expected to come from Asia/Pacific and Latin American markets, where growing middle-class populations are spending more on media consumption.

The US media industry includes about 154,000 establishments (single-location companies and units of multi-location companies) with combined annual revenue of more than $1.6 trillion. Software publishing and telecommunications services, which are included in this industry, are covered further in separate industry profiles.

COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

Massive media conglomerates dominate the global content production and distribution industry. The ability to compete successfully depends on the capacity to provide high-quality popular content, adapt to and exploit technological developments, respond to changes in consumer behavior, and achieve widespread distribution.

The explosion of digital content provided by companies such as Facebook and Netflix challenges traditional content providers to keep up. Meanwhile, the proliferation of mobile devices and widespread availability of mobile broadband technology is allowing more ...