An Interview with James Marsh, a Managing Director and Senior Research Analyst at Piper Jaffray & Co., Following Entertainment, Radio and Television Broadcasting, Outdoor Advertising and Publishing: Advertising Market Growth and the Impact of Digital
67 WALL STREET, New York - November 14, 2013 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Entertainment, Toys and Games Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This special feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
Topics covered: Brick-And-Mortar Versus Online Retail Sales - Cautious Consumer Spending - International Paid Television Growth - Digital Advertisement Trends - Mobile Device Gaming Prospects - Toy Company Competition
Companies include: Netflix, Inc. (NFLX), Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), CBS Corporation (CBS), SIRIUS XM Radio Inc. (SIRI), DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. (DWA), Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. (LGF), Walt Disney Co. (DIS), Time Warner Inc. (TWX), IMAX Corporation (IMAX), Cinemark Holdings Inc. (CNK), Cumulus Media Inc. (CMLS) and many others.
In the following excerpt from the Entertainment, Toys and Games Report, a top entertainment and media analyst from Piper Jaffray discusses the outlook for the sector for investors:
TWST: You cover radio, television broadcasting and publishing. What are the important investment themes you are watching in the space right now?
Mr. Marsh: We always start by looking at the broader economic environment. A lot of the businesses that I cover are driven by advertising. So I always want to have at least a moderately healthy ad market, and I think that's generally what we are seeing right now. We have now recovered from the recession, and ad trends tend to be modestly positive, but stable.
The impact of digital is another huge potential trend; it has a lot of different areas where it touches on my business, some of them are growth opportunities and some of them are threats to existing businesses. Probably the biggest one is the disintermediation of the pay-TV ecosystem, through I think what we are generally calling the over-the-top threats like a Netflix (NFLX) and Amazon Prime (AMZN), etc.
Generally speaking, people are feeling pretty comfortable with that today. It doesn't appear to be disrupting the core pay-TV ecosystem in any meaningful way. People aren't turning off cable, and in the interim it's provided a new consumer with content and it's upped the competition a bit, which has helped drive more investment from some of the core media companies.
The last one I would just mention is international growth, and this could come in the form of buying more tickets to movie theaters or the growing of pay-TV ecosystems abroad, but I think there's also a good opportunity there. These have been underpenetrated markets historically, and a lot of the movies and TV shows that are created in the U.S. tend to travel well.
TWST: You mentioned Netflix and Amazon. Obviously, there was concern initially that they were going to disrupt the traditional viewing patterns. Have they impacted television substantially?
For more of this interview and many others visit the Wall Street Transcript - a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs, portfolio managers and research analysts. This special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.
