What are important developments in the media, entertainment and telecommunications industries in Germany in 2017?

Every year, the consulting firm Goldmedia publishes analyst commentaries and trend hypotheses for the coming year in Germany, looking at the media, telecommunications, entertain­ment and Internet sectors as well as the sport business. You can find the analyst commentaries of Goldmedia's Trend Monitor 2017 as single articles (only in German ) in the Goldmedia Blog. Please visit our publications sector for free downloading of the complete study Trend Monitor 2017.

Infograph Goldmedia Trend Monitor 2017, © Goldmedia/Franziska Veh

Trends and outlook 2017. Theses

  • Damage of facts or the next big media trend. How can automatically generated fake news be prevented? Chat bots and the field of computational communication will become increasingly important in the following years. Newsagents are already using robotic journalism software to automatically formulate thousands of articles, especially in the area of ​​sports, stock market or weather news. Automatically generated fake news, through chat bots or used as click-bait, pose a significant problem for the media democracy. full article
  • The market share of television channels stumbles into the digital world. The paradigm of this “single currency” on the test of the new reality. Looking at the non-linear market of moving images, it becomes apparent that its consumption cannot be pinpointed to an exact time or short time frame anymore. 2017 will be the year where many market participants have to acknowledge the turning away from the ideal of a “single currency” and move towards a new paradigm of a separate measurement for ads and content. full article
  • Snapchat and Instagram are the new shooting stars of the video networks. Facebook turns into a platform for grown-ups. The competition within the moving-image market will continue to increase. Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, etc. go further into battle for attention and ad shares, but newcomer Snapchat might be one step ahead in the end. The teenagers will decide. full article
  • „O.K., I’d like to have…“: Amazon Echo and Google Home conquer the home with voice command. Language turns into a new interface: It has been possible for some time now to start phone calls, ask for directions or the weather, and save memos with Apple’s Siri and OK Google. In 2017, we will see many other mobile devices on the German market. It will be challenging to build up trust, and to design an interface that is easy and functional enough for the users to establish these digital assistants in the home area. full article
  • Programmatic Ads for Online Audio: Publisher, marketers and agencies on the hunt for the right data strategy. In 2017, publishers, agencies, as well as system providers will (have to) actively develop mutual data and distribution strategies. Especially the subject of data security in Germany will play an important role in the question of how quickly the issue will move forward. At the same time one needs to address the insecurities and scepticism in regard to the quality of data and data matching. The technical requirements for programmatic advertising within the online audio market are available. full article
  • Less is more: Why successful VoD companies apparently provide less content. The range of products of US platform Netflix has shrunk by one third since 2014, from 8103 movies and series in 2014 to a mere 5316. Less is apparently also more in the VoD market. However, in-house productions are anything but “cheap”. Netflix is said to have invested around six billion dollars in content in 2016, and will even invest seven billion in 2017. full article
  • Increase of throttle limit: Mobile use of audio streams rises even without zero rating. Audio [services] on the internet will be used more and more via mobile devices outside of WIFI zones. And mobile communication providers will react to it through their charging policy. Telefónica is now tightening the screws on a German mobile communications market that has been cemented for years, and increases the throttle limit to a level on which every music streaming service continues to work. full article
  • Pay VoD: Amazon increased the prices and YouTube Red hopes for young viewers. With YouTube Red, YouTube’s pay VoP service launches on the German market in 2017 – of course with the goal to win over particularly young viewers as new customers. Therefore, the German pay VoD market will continue to grow in 2017. However, the competitive pressure will increase for many smaller providers as well – for them, focussing on a niche might be the only possibility. full article
  • Influencer marketing is getting more professional. And with Musical.ly, the next generation of influencers is waiting. Influencer marketing gains a new dynamic through online market places. […] For 2017, the machinery around influencer marketing will become increasingly more professional and strategic. Platforms for influencers are growing even aside from YouTube and Snapchat. full article
  • Trends within the gaming market 2017. 4K, VR and especially Seamless: In 2017, the borders of the video game industry will continue to blur. Similar to the smartphone market, devices continue to exist alongside each other, previous versions are downgraded to starter models. However, the borders are not only blurred between the console generations: The transitions from mobile to PC games, and generally from reality to virtual reality become more fluent. full article
  • eSports – Electronic sports turn into a mass phenomenon. Sporting competitions of computer and video games play an important role in the leisure activities for many millennial around the world. The market for online games is booming on an international level and attracts new investors into the industry. The advancing commercialization demands a professionalization of the scene. It has already begun in Germany and will intensify in 2017. full article
  • Podcasts leave their niche status in 2017. More and more people are listening to podcasts – especially since they can be used in numerous situations in which video, print and other media are not working. And: the podcast industry is getting more professional. full article
  • The time of the sports groups has come – professional football in a conflict between profit and sport. We will continue to see the business development of the clubs in 2017. Structures similar to those of a corporation will emerge in the medium term. Not all of them will be able to keep up – a split of professional football into sport clubs and sport corporations could develop from this in the long run. full article
  • From public value to an orientation towards the common goods: Media and infrastructure providers will identify their benefit for society more intensely in 2017. Public value analysts turn into a modern instrument of measuring performance and enable more transparency and control. The user’s view is central and an extensive mix of methods important. full article

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