The Biggest Media Companies Only Get Bigger

Michael Hedges June 17, 2014 Follow on Twitter

Last year was generally good to big media companies. Distribution companies, largely satellite and pay-TV, benefited greatly but content companies, largely TV and film producers, held their own. The web is evermore powerful and publishing only starting to recover.

The Berlin Institute for Media and Communications Policy (IfM) recently released its top fifty media companies ranked by revenues, conveniently calculated in euros, and the biggest in the world are just getting bigger. The Hearst Corporation, Discovery Communications and Netflix rose most in the IfM rankings while Yahoo, Mediaset, Gannett, Bonnier, Axel Springer and the Washington Post Company falling.

The rankings top four did not change year on year. DirecTV, now number 5, wasn’t even on the top 50 list last year. Off the top ten is French media house Vivendi, falling from 9th to 12th. The rest of the top ten also hasn’t changed.

At €12 billion in revenues, Cox Enterprises ranks number 10 in the list. The Atlanta based largely family-owned publisher and broadcaster owns 17 daily newspapers, 25 weeklies and 15 regional TV channels. Big German publisher and broadcaster Bertelsmann is, owing to majority ownership of RTL Group, the ninth biggest media company. Revenues in 2013 were €16.4 billion. Sony Entertainment ranked 8th. It owns a movie studio, makes every possible consumer electronic products including Playstation.

Paramount Pictures and MTV owner Viacom CBS, at home – literally – on Broadway is the 7th biggest media company in the world. Revenues in 2013 were €21.9 billion. Highly diversified Time Warner ranks number 6 with €22.4 billion in 2013 revenues. It owns legendary pay TV company HBO and legendary TV broadcaster CNN plus film producers New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Think: Game of Thrones.

Proving that distribution is really big business, the 5th ranked global media house is satellite pay-TV operator DirecTV. 2103 revenue: €23.9 billion. By this time next year telecom giant AT&T will likely own it, another big media business trend. Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox and News Corporation, combined for purposes of this ranking, placed 4th in the world with total 2013 revenues of €27.5 billion. Not just Mickey Mouse, the world’s 3rd biggest media company is the Walt Disney Corporation with 2013 revenues of €33.9 billion. In 2010 it led these rankings. (See IfM Global Media rankings 2007-2014 here)

In the great media and technology convergence it’s no surprise to find Google high on the list, number 2 with revenues of €45.1 billion, up from €39 billion year on year. Google’s huge cash reserves and appetite for acquisition will certainly propel it further. Topping the list is Comcast, owner of NBC Universal. 2013 revenues were €48.7 billion. When it completes the acquisition of Time Warner Cable total revenues could reach €70 billion.

Though not precisely a commercial enterprise German public TV network ARD ranked number 19 in the world with 2013 revenues of €6.3 billion. UK public broadcaster BBC ranked number 23 with €6 billion in revenues followed closely by Japan’s public broadcaster NHK. French public TV ranked 42nd and Italian public broadcaster RAI ranked 50th.

Being a German research institute, the IfM noted the top ten German media concerns combined 2013 revenues were 20% lower year on year, to €39.6 billion.

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