"The golden era of European content production" - Berenberg

Xilam Animation SA

29/10/2019 07:42

** Berenberg initiates coverage of European content
producers Xilam  XIL.PA  and Mediawan  MDW.PA  with a "buy"
rating amid "the golden era of European content production"
    ** The brokerage says a structural shift in the media sector
has led to the rise of over-the-top (OTT) services which is
bypassing traditional distributors
    ** It expects independent European content producers to be
"the big winners" of this structural shift and to benefit from
increasing demand for new productions
    ** Increasing competition from existing (Netflix  NFLX.O ,
Amazon Prime  AMZN.O ) and new OTT players (Disney+  DIS.N ,
Apple TV  AAPL.O ) and the removal of content from existing
platforms have spurred media players to step up their
investments in new content, Berenberg says, adding it expects
global content spend to increase to $125 bln by 2021
    ** Berenberg says it believes Xilam is well positioned to
capture increasing demand for animated content due to its strong
reputation and long history of globally successful hits
    ** It sees Mediawan as well placed to capture growth in TV
series production due to its strong reputation and track record
in France and its independence and freedom to set up
co-productions

 ((joanna.wodzicka@tr.com))