Fifty. Billion. Dollars. That is how much extra revenue content com- panies could be collecting every year but leave on the table because of lapses in how they manage content rights. That is equal to the total annual revenue of Walt Disney Co. (#57 on the Fortune 500), and almost $10 billion a year more than the revenue of Time Warner and CBS combined.
This hidden fortune, elusive even to some of the biggest entertainment compa- nies in the world, may be even larger than $50 billion a year, say the rights experts at RSG Media. They studied the global $600 billion-a-year market for common practices and missed opportunities and conservatively peg untapped revenue at up to 10% of the market, so let's say 8% or so for good measure.
This digital pile of uncollected revenue comes to light as investors fret over the breakup of cable subscription packages and as channels have started offering Net- only services "over the top" without going through the local cable systems that had been their partners. They include HBO Now, an ESPN NBA feed, CNN, CBS, Univision, Showtime and CNBC, and more OTT entrants are imminent. READ MORE» |
