Industry Insights: Will legislation be required to save public broadcasting, Netflix numbers impress, and second window acquisitions.
Public service content should be findable on YouTube
A very interesting recommendation from the UK broadcast regulator Office of Communication (Ofcom) is that public broadcasting (referred to as PSM, Public Service Media, by Ofcom) should ensure that its content is easy to find and discover on third-party platforms such as YouTube. In recommendations that will have an impact far outside the UK broadcast market, Ofcom says that this is one of the main ways that under-pressure public broadcasters can safeguard their future in the face of widening increasing competition, audience choice, financial challenges, and structural changes in the advertising market.
Indeed, Ofcom has concluded that this is all important enough not to be left to chance, and has delivered a six-point action plan to help. These are the recommendations:
1. Prominence and discoverability
As a priority, public service broadcasters should work urgently with YouTube to ensure that PSM content is prominent and easy to find on the platforms, and on fair commercial terms. “This is particularly important for news and children’s content, and we believe there is a strong case for Government to legislate to enable the change,” says Ofcom.
2. Stable and adequate funding
Ofcom recommends that priority be given to socially valuable but commercially less viable genres, such as news, local news and children’s content.
3. TV distribution
Universal TV distribution inclusive of all audiences is desirable but has to be on a sustainable footing. Delivering content over traditional terrestrial infrastructure, as well as multiple digital platforms, comes at a significant cost.
4. Strategic partnerships at scale
Scale is critical for public service broadcasters to connect with audiences and compete with global streaming platforms – who, in some cases, they depend on to reach viewers.
Competition and plurality need to be preserved, but broadcasters must be more ambitious in pursuing strategic and technological partnerships.
5. Media literacy
Media literacy skills are essential for using, understanding and navigating digital services, and for critically engaging with news and other content. Ofcom strongly recommends that public service broadcasters – who are uniquely placed to support audiences – invest in this area.
6. Streamlined regulation
Much of the current legislative and regulatory framework was designed for a world of traditional, linear TV. Reading between the lines of what Ofcom says here, it sees reforming regulation and supporting the future provision of public service content as highly important.
In 2024, only 48% of 16-24-year-olds tuned into broadcast TV in an average week in the UK. It’s not just live television underperforming either. PSM companies’ video-on-demand players only account for 9% of all viewing, was less than SVOD services (15%) and online video sharing platforms (19%). The picture is similar worldwide. And while the Ofcom report is not going to lead directly to government regulation aimed at protecting public broadcasting, it does signpost action that can be taken by the broadcasters themselves. It also helps open up the global debate over whether, as societies, we think some sort of action is required.
Netflix profits surge as ad revenues double
[The Hollywood Reporter / The Verge]
The lack of reported subscriber numbers does not seem to have done the enthusiasm that greet Netflix earnings calls any harm. Perhaps this is because the numbers keep going up as the streaming giant continues to defy expectations.
Last week, the company reported total revenues of $11.1 billion, operating income of $3.8 billion and a margin of 34.1%. All these numbers were up double digits from a year ago, and all topped Wall Street estimates.
Price increases are a part of this story. US and Canadian revenue grew by 15% in Q2 compared to 9%in Q1 as a result. A regional breakdown of earnings is:
US & Canada - $4.93bn
Europe, MENA & Africa - $3.54bn
LATAM - $1.31bn
APAC - $1.31bn
As far as ads go, the company said that it is nearly done with its 2025 upfront negotiations, and that it is on track to “roughly double” its advertising revenue this year. Hard numbers are under wraps still, but it certainly seems that growth is moving in the right direction.
In tandem with the earnings report, the company also released its latest engagement figures. These showed that 95 billion hours of content were watched in the first half of 2025. Adolescence topped the chart as the most-watched series with 145 million views, followed by Squid Game seasons 2 and 3.
There were a couple of interesting data points from the figures the company released.
- Nearly half of the viewing for Netflix Originals in this report came from titles that debuted in 2023 or earlier.
- Over two thirds of Netflix subscribers are now outside the US
- Over one third of all viewing comes from non-English language titles.
Identifying the key markets for second window acquisitions
Second window acquisitions, relicensing content for use after it’s made its debut elsewhere, are becoming an increasingly popular content strategy. For example, US comedy series Minx debuted on HBO Max in 2022, but was ‘unveiled’ by Tubi in February 2025, and in 2024 Disney sold over a dozen originals to services worldwide, including Dopesick to broadcasters in the Netherlands, the UK, and Sweden.
There are two main drivers here: mitigating against rising content costs on the one hand, plus acknowledging the importance of deepening content libraries on the other.
One relatively new development is the amount of promotion that such acquisitions are starting to attract. Second window streamers are becoming increasingly happy to advertise the debut of new-to-their-platform series, acknowledging the fact that in an increasingly fragmented market it may well be the first opportunity for its own audience to watch the content.
For distributors, the second window has always represented an opportunity to further maximize value from existing content, with studios becoming more willing to license their own titles exclusive to their platforms to competitor services.
Analysts 3vision has run the numbers and identified the top markets worldwide for second window acquisitions, at least as far as US and UK originated content goes. They are those two countries themselves, Australia, Germany, and somewhat surprisingly France.
AVOD leads the way in the US. Tubi alone has hosted five second window premieres so far this year, while Amazon’s free ad-supported tier - previously known as Freevee - has added two more. Netflix, meanwhile, uses its scale to secure second windows across multiple territories, with titles such as 1883, Halo, Ghosts (Paramount) and Resident Alien (NBCUniversal) added to the service in various markets.
"With demand spreading across AVOD, BVOD (Broadcaster Video On Demand), alongside traditional second window buyers in Free TV and SVOD, success will hinge on identifying where appetite is strongest and adapting windowing strategies to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse set of buyers,” concludes 3vision.
As an aside, Minx is actually a rare example of a third window acquisition, as it was cancelled by HBO Max while S2 was in production and then picked up by Starz. It was then cancelled again before being picked up in turn by Tubi.
