In this article, we are going to list the 15 biggest media companies in the world.
What are the biggest media companies in the world? The word media, which is the plural of medium, refers to the channels of communication through which news, music, movies, education, promotional messages, and other data are distributed. The media industry is comprised of fields of advertising, broadcasting, and networking, news, printing and publishing, digital, recording, and motion pictures, and each has its associated infrastructure. Media companies conduct business within these areas and offer end-users products and services from individuals to large organizations.
The pandemic has affected every business around the world and the media industry is one of the sectors that has been hit hard. During lockdowns, the suspension of film and television projects caused release dates to be postponed and contributed to content recycling. The strict social distancing protocols have prevented us from going to theme parks, resorts, theaters, and stadiums. This has contributed to major declines in profits from ticket sales, merchandising, promotions, and advertisement. People stayed at home for most of the year and this has impacted their choices and patterns of media consumption.
In 2020, the global media industry reached a size of almost $1.713 trillion, inched up by 3.8% since 2015 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR). The market is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 9.3% from $1.713 trillion in 2020 to $2.670 trillion in 2025. The streaming sector of the media industry is one of the few sources of entertainment during the lockdowns. Netflix has seen a 22.8% increase in the number of subscriptions in the first quarter of 2020, while Disney+ has reached 50 million subscribers worldwide 2 years ahead of schedule. Companies in the media market are eye-balling on the re-allocation of resources to consumers or digital offerings to remain relevant to the current situation.
The majority of the world’s leading media companies are U.S.-based companies. The market is dominated by the presence of a large number of entertainment and media houses and their massive investment in technological development and innovation. The European media market held a 26.9% market share in 2019. While Asia-Pacific held a 23.6% share in global media market share.
In 2015, Comcast wast the world’s largest media company according to the 11 biggest media companies in the world. The behavior of the audience has changed since then. Today, we will give you the most accurate list of the biggest media companies in the world. We reviewed these companies’ most recent annual financial statements and ranked them by the most valuable numbers that will help us identify how big a company is which include revenue, market cap, and assets, and the number of employees. Rankings of the biggest media companies were arranged from the smallest to biggest starting at number 15:
15. News Corp (NASDAQ: NWS)
Revenue: $9.7 B
Market Cap: $10.58 B
Assets: $16.3 B
Number of employees: 28,000
Country: United, States
News Corp is a globally diversified media and information services company that engages in creating and distributing authoritative and engaging content to consumers and businesses around the world. The company is composed primarily of businesses across a wide range of media, including news and information services, book publishing, digital real estate services, cable network programming.
wellphoto/Shutterstock.com
14. Altice Group (NYSE: ATUS)
Revenue: $9.8 B
Market Cap: $20.48 B
Assets: $35 B
Number of employees: 10,700
Country: United States
Altice Group is a multinational cable and telecommunications company with established operations in France, Israel, Belgium & Luxembourg, Portugal, the French West Indies/Indian Ocean Area, and the Dominican Republic and Switzerland. The company integrates technology with research and development and enables people to live up to their passions by providing original content, high-quality and compelling TV shows, and international, national, and local news channels.
Concept Photo/Shutterstock.com
13. FOX (NASDAQ: FOX)
Revenue: $11.7 B
Market Cap: $17.28 B
Assets: $20.5 B
Number of employees: 7,700
Country: United States
Fox Corp. is providing compelling news, sports, and entertainment content thru FOX News Media, FOX Sports, FOX Entertainment, and FOX Television Stations.
In an article, Silver Ring Value Partners mentioned that:
“Fox Corporation was created following the sale of a portion of the business to Disney. What remains is the Fox News network, FOX broadcast network and major-market TV stations, as well as the national sports cable networks. Of all the assets, Fox News is by far the most important, contributing approximately 75% of normalized profitability. It is also the one that has the strongest sustainable competitive advantage. Almost half of the country perceives it as a must-have network, and it therefore enjoys very inelastic demand. I consider the business to be of Excellent quality. The management team is experienced and has a good track record of value creation. They have recently shown restraint in not bidding to recoup the regional sports network business that the predecessor company sold to Disney and that the latter was forced to divest. Finally, the balance sheet is in solid shape, with net Debt/EBITDA at under 2.5x.
My range of values is between $20 and $107, with a base case of $56. This is driven by a business that I believe has normalized EPS/FCF of $2.75-$3.00 in a few years that is growing in the midsingle digits. The company also has a number of excess assets that are worth close to $10/share. The largest of these is a sizable NOL which allows it to reduce its cash taxes for many years, as well as a stake in Roku and a valuable studio lot. I purchased the stock at ~ $35/share, or around 11x forward 12 months normalized EPS excluding excess assets. I sized the investment as a small, 5%, position because 1) the downside is > 35% and 2) this investment has meaningful correlation of long-term business outcomes with our Discovery investment. I do believe that the two companies are complementary, and both are positioned to avoid the competitive fiction content market. Longer-term it wouldn’t surprise me if Discovery and Fox merge as this would give them even more scale and make their combined offering even more must-have.”
12. Omnicom Group (NYSE: OMC)
Revenue: $14.9 B
Market Cap: $13.41 B
Assets: $23.7 B
Number of employees: 70,000
Country: United States
Omnicom Media Group is one of the largest media companies in the world specializing in advertising, marketing, and corporate communications providing services to more than 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries. The company offers a wide range of marketing solutions spanning brand advertising, customer relationship management (CRM), media planning and purchasing services, public relations, and a wide range of specialty communications services to drive bottom-line results for our clients.
11. WPP
Revenue: $16.9 B
Market Cap: $9.5 B
Assets: $41.5 B
Number of employees: 134,281
Country: United Kingdom
WPP plc is British multinational communication, advertising, public relations, technology, and commercial holding company and is considered to be one of the largest advertising companies in the world.
10. Vivendi
Revenue: $17.8 B
Market Cap: $25.3 B
Assets: $41.9 B
Number of employees: 44,641
Country: France
Vivendi SE is a French-based integrated content, media, and communications group working across the entire media value chain. The business manages Universal Music Group, the Canal+ Group, Havas, Gameloft, Vivendi Village, New Initiatives, and the Corporate Group.
oliveromg/Shutterstock.com
9. BCE Inc. (NYSE: BCE)
Revenue: $18.1 B
Market cap: $36.6 B
Assets: $46.4 B
Number of employees: 52,100
Country: Canada
Bell Canada Enterprise, Inc. is a telecommunications and media conglomerate engaged in the provision of communications services to residential, business, and wholesale customers. The core operations include conventional, specialty, and pay television, digital media, radio broadcasting, and out-of-home advertising services. BCE has wired and wireless connection as well.
8. Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX)
Revenue: $21.4 B
Market value: $238.89
Assets: $35.1 B
Number of employees: 8,600
Country: United States
Netflix and chill? The world’s biggest internet streaming company distributes films and TV shows in a variety of genres and languages with over 200 million paid subscribers in more than 190 countries. Netflix produces its content and negotiates with other producers for the distribution of programming rights. Netflix still delivers DVDs to US customers by mail, although the legacy business is getting smaller every year.
In an article we posted, Ensemble Fund highlighted the growth of the company and why Netflix should be included in your portfolio:
“Two years ago, we shared that Netflix was reaping the benefits of its unique business model, where a generational shift in video services over the Internet-enabled Netflix to dream big and bet big – to become the first global-scale direct to consumer subscription media company.
Unlike traditional media companies, its growth opportunity was not limited by regional relationships like cable and satellite companies who had built and owned physical connections to their customers. It was one that was open to reaching anyone with the more pervasive virtual connection, the Internet – wired or wireless – anywhere in the world at the click of a button. The traditional link between reaching a customer as a media provider and the physical infrastructure build was no longer a limit to growth and economics.
Netflix’s success in realizing this opportunity has everything to do with the company’s culture born of its history as an internet-based, innovation-driven business, which drove it to build capabilities that have underpinned its execution.”
Copyright: lculig / 123RF Stock Photo
7. ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIAC)
Revenue: $27.81 B
Market Cap: $23.04 B
Number of employees: 11,200
Country: United States
One of the biggest media companies in the world is formed by the merger of Viacom and CBS Corporation in 2019. The company now owns media brands all over the world, including the various CBS networks, Channel 5 in the UK, and MTV. Its holdings include a database with 3,600 film titles and 140,000 TV episodes along with Paramount Pictures Studio, the CBS broadcast network, cable network brands such as Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, as well as streaming services including CBS All Access.
Pixabay/Public Domain
6. Charter Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHTR)
Revenue: $45.8 B
Market value: $132.23 B
Assets: $150.6 B
Number of employees: 95,100
Country: United States
Charter Communications, Inc. is a major broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 30 million customers in 41 countries through its brand Spectrum. Charter Communications also distributes award-winning news coverage, sports, and high-quality original shows to its customers through Spectrum Networks and Spectrum Originals.
5. Tencent Holdings
Revenue: $54.6 B
Market Cap: $509.7 B
Assets: $137 B
Number of employees: 62,885
Country: China
Tencent Holdings offers social networking, music, web portals, e-commerce, console apps, Internet services, payment services, entertainment, artificial intelligence, and technology solutions through its subsidiaries. Although Tencent is not as much a cultural icon in the United States as, for example, the Amazon, it still has a pretty sizable presence in the West. Currently, Tencent owns Riot Games and Supercell, which consumers might identify as the creators of the League of Legends and the Clash of Clans. Tencent is also known for running WeChat, China’s most successful messaging app with more than a billion users.
Pixabay/Publci
4. Walt Disney (NYSE: DIS)
Revenue: $65.39 B
Market cap: $328 B
Assets: $200 B
Number of employees: 223,000
Country: United States
Walt Disney Co. is a diversified global family entertainment and media company. Walt Disney Company is one of the largest companies in the world through market capitalization and is not only a powerful and well-recognized brand but also a profitable one. Originally established as a cartoon studio in 1923, the Walt Disney Company has evolved and diversified to a large extent, with its operating sectors including media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, and consumer products.
Copyright: blanscape / 123RF Stock Photo
3. Sony (NYSE: SNE)
Revenue: $79.2 B
Market Cap: $78.7 B
Assets: $208.3
Number of employees: 114,400
Country: Japan
Sony landed at the 6th spot on our list of the biggest tech companies in the world in 2020. We all know Sony as the manufacturer of PS5, as well as a variety of games and software. Sony is also involved in the production, acquisition, and distribution of motion pictures and television programming and the operation of television and digital networks. Sony distributes electronic products directly to retailers and manufacturers.
We posted an article where Third Point stated why Sony is a good match for your portfolio:
“We invested in Sony in Q1 2019 when shares traded down on market fears that cloud gaming posed a substantial threat to the company’s PlayStation franchise and overall gaming business. While the market saw only risks, we saw an incredible collection of media assets: the world’s largest video game platform, a top-three music label, and a top-five Hollywood film studio. Hidden behind the media empire was an underappreciated, best-in-class semiconductor business. We also saw a capable management team open to improving shareholder value and willing to listen to our suggestions about how the company could reach its full potential.
As is often the case with conglomerates, concerns over a single business impaired total value, giving us the opportunity to purchase shares at a large discount to our view of intrinsic valuation. The rest of 2019 proved excellent for Sony. Fears around cloud gaming were overblown. Sony’s semiconductor business has grown from ~15% of profits to ~25% and analysts expect semis to be a core driver of Sony’s growth going forward. Gaming profits were down only slightly ahead of a major product launch this holiday season, the PS5, after which most analysts expect Sony gaming to return to growth.
While business performance has been stellar, we believe true value maximization at Sony is only beginning. Out of Sony’s four major non-core publicly-listed stakes, the company has divested only one of its smallest, Olympus. Sony has yet to outline a clear strategy for its remaining ~$14 billion in public stakes, largely concentrated between Sony Financial and M3 but has indicated that it will do so. Sony has avoided the topic of portfolio optimization, but we continue to believe that Sony’s media and semiconductors franchises can stand alone and create more value independently than together.”
Copyright: robtek / 123RF Stock Photo
2. Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA)
Revenue: $108.7 B
Market value: $171.7 B
Assets: $262.4 B
Number of employees: 190,000
Country: United States
Revenue ranking 2nd in this list of the top 15 largest media companies in the world is Comcast. Comcast Corp. is one of the leading media, entertainment, and communications companies in the world involved in the production of video, internet, and telephone services. Comcast currently operates Xfinity residential cable and over-the-air nationwide broadcast network channels such as NBC, Telemundo, TeleXitos, and Cozi TV.
Copyright: jetcityimage / 123RF Stock Photo
1. AT&T (NYSE: T)
Revenue: $179.2 B
Market value: $204.92 B
Assets: $545.4 B
Number of employees: 246,000
Country: United States
Topping the list of the largest media companies in the world is AT&T. AT&T is the largest media company in the world by revenue, generating a revenue of $179.2 billion. In 2018, AT&T purchased Time Warner Inc. and acquired media properties such as Turner Broadcasting and HBO; Warner Bros. branded film, TV shows, and video game properties; and publishing properties.
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Disclosure: None. 15 Biggest Media Companies in the World is originally published at Insider Monkey.
