The impact of global platforms on media competition and on the results of European communication companies

Abstract

The market value and capitalization of traditional media companies have dropped dramatically in the last five years. This is due to the evolution of digital platforms and the emergence of global communications mega-corporations that have since absorbed the distribution of new information and entertainment content. It is also a consequence of the aggregation of value-added services generated through incessant innovation. Communications mega-corporations, the GAFANs (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Netflix), and audiovisual and telecommunications platforms reached market capitalizations ranging from 56% to 170% in the last five years (2012-17) respectively, whilst those of traditional media did not exceed 75 percent. Asymmetries on competition regulations against traditional media and the political alarm ignited by the so-called fake news or scandals due to the mishandling of users data awakened the European states and the EU about the urgency of filling the legal gap existing around the development of such platforms, particularly in order to demand rules and responsibilities comparable to those that apply to editorial groups.