Money Buzz! Europa

Tag: media

  • Names not so easy to clear: Fridman, Khan and Aven’s defamation claim against Buzzfeed dismissed

    Names not so easy to clear: Fridman, Khan and Aven’s defamation claim against Buzzfeed dismissed

    End of March, Ken Bensinger, an investigative reporter for BuzzFeed News, tweeted ”At last! After nearly 4 years, a NY judge has granted a motion for summary judgment dismissing the defamation lawsuit filed by Russians Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven & German Khan against @BuzzFeed & myself for publishing the Dossier.”

    The Supreme Court of New York granted the petition by BuzzFeed and several others, who demanded a simplified rejection of the defamation claim filed by Alfa Group shareholders Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and Herman Khan after BuzzFeed had published the information contained in the so-called Trump dossier.

    The three Russian billionaire moguls filed their lawsuit in May 2017, claiming that the BuzzFeed article and dossier published on January 10, 2017 contained numerous allegations damaging the plaintiffs’ reputation as well as the business of the group of companies in which they have significant beneficial interests.

    The publication, in turn, applied to the court with a motion to dismiss the claim.

    Referring to the US law, the defendants argued that the media have the right to release information that raises issues related to the activities of official authorities, and the situation with the dossier, as indicated in the petition, presumably complies with this requirement, especially considering the important public discussion going on in the country.

    The dossier by a former British spy Christopher Steele alleged ties between Moscow and Donald Trump’s campaign by naming Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan ”creatures of the Kremlin.”

    Mikhail Fridman and his business-partners denied any ties with Trump’s campaign, and filed corresponding defamation claims against Steele first in US and then in British court to ”clear their names”. 

    However, two years ago, one of the three, Petr Aven told US prosecutors that he regularly met Mr Putin to discuss economics at one-on-one meetings in the Kremlin where the Russian president gave ”implicit directives”, according to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report last year.

    Mr Aven’s efforts to build a back channel to the White House were unsuccessful, the report added.

    It has been almost four years since a group of computer scientists disclosed that two internet servers belonging to Alfa Bank had looked up the address of the Trump Organization server 2,820 times between May and September 2016.

    In response to that, over the years Alfa Group issued two very inconsistent statements: first, it claimed that any server-related activity between Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization was the result of an automated email-based campaign to market Trump properties to Alfa Bank employees.

    However, afterwards Alfa bank filed lawsuits that alleged a criminal conspiracy by unidentified defendants, who forged emails by manipulating DNS data to make it appear that the bank was communicating with the Trump Organization.

    The lawsuit against Mr. Steele in D.C. Superior Court was tossed just four months after it had been filed, when the judge ruled that Steele’s dossier examined Russian influence on the presidential election, and therefore served the public interest.

    Now Buzzfeed is free of prosecution for roughly the same reasons.

    There remain Alfa’s lawsuits against the computer scientists who raised the alarm in regard to potential foreign interference with the US elections – Alfa Bank’s lawyers have issued aggressive subpoenas in the Florida case to computer scientists and DNS records custodians.

    Buzzfeed’s warning, upon being sued by Alfa Bank in 2017, about the bank’s “shameless attempts to bully and intimidate” should be taken to heart.

  • Several private media outlets in Poland stopped broadcasting

    Several private media outlets in Poland stopped broadcasting

    Several private media outlets in Poland stopped broadcasting on Wednesday in protest of a project to introduce a tax on advertising revenue, Reuters reports.

    A new tax on advertising revenue, which varies between 2 and 15% depending on the size of the company, is quickly passed by the Warsaw Parliament.

    The Polish government says the tax will help raise funds for health and culture, areas affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

    TVN24 and Polsat News broadcast a special message instead of the usual programs, while TVN24, Onet and Interia blocked access to online articles.

    Also, radio stations such as RMF FM, ZET, TOK FM and Rock Radio also joined the protest and sent a special message instead of the usual programs.

  • Romanian media and entertainment industry growth will slow down in 2020

    Romanian media and entertainment industry growth will slow down in 2020

    The growth rate of the media and entertainment industry in Romania will reduce to 0.26% this year, from over 8% in 2019, due to the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The market value to reach EUR 2,613 billion, according to the 21st edition of the PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020 – 2024 (GEMO). Estimates show a return to growth in 2021 and an annual average growth rate of 6.76% by 2024.

    Romania is the least affected by the COVID-19 crisis among the Central and Eastern European markets included in the report and the only one that will increase in 2020.

    It is estimated that the other countries in the region will report decreases in 2020 from to the previous year: Hungary 7%, Poland 5% and the Czech Republic 5%.

    Performance by segments. Winners vs losers

    With most people at home, the OTT services market (e.g. Netflix or HBO Go) in Romania will have the highest year-on-year growth on the media and entertainment market, of 32% to EUR 29 million.

    It will also continue to grow in the coming years, with an annual average growth rate of 16.5%, and is expected to reach EUR 48 million by 2024.

    The second highest growth in the market is estimated for the segment of video games and e-sports (electronic sports), of 19% to EUR 136 million this year and rising to EUR 195 million in 2024.

    Internet acces spending at over EUR 1,2 bln

    Internet access spending continues to be the largest sector of the industry, with 47% of the market and a value of EUR 1.23 billion, following a 9.7% year-on-year increase.

    By 2024, it will reach EUR 1.89 billion, with an average annual increase of 11%.

    Over 7% increase for internet ads

    The next largest increase is estimated for internet advertising, of 7.4%, with a segment value of EUR 107 million. It will continue to grow by an average of 9% to EUR 153 million by 2024.

    With the market very responsive to consumer behaviour changes, mobile internet advertising is growing particularly strongly as smartphones become the main device of media consumption.

    Book sales, up 5%

    The restrictions caused by the pandemic also had a positive effect on book sales, which are estimated to have increased by 5.1% to EUR 69 million in 2020.

    The PwC report estimates an average annual growth rate of 2.42% by 2024.

    The film industry will report the largest decrease

    With cinemas closed and ticket revenues lost, the film industry will report the largest decrease, of 58% to EUR 26 million. By 2024, however, the sector is predicted to return to EUR 58 million, which will still be below the 2019 level of EUR 62 million.

    The outdoor advertising market has also contracted due to the pandemic, by 25% to EUR 25 million this year, but the prospects for 2024 show a recovery to EUR 43 million.

    The B2B media sector, which includes business information, directory advertising, trade magazines, professional books and trade shows, will post a decrease of 13.7% to EUR 194 million, but it will recover in the coming years at an average growth rate of 3.27% per year.

    Printed newspapers and magazines: -13%

    The pre-crisis decline in Romania’s printed newspapers and magazines sector has deepened during the pandemic, by 13% to EUR 62 million this year.

    It will remain at a similar level until 2024, when the market value is estimated to be EUR 61 million.

    Both the television and the video content consumed at home will have slight decreases this year estimated at 6%, with revenues falling to EUR 465 million. This is the second largest segment in Romania in terms of revenue generated, after internet access.

    In this context, TV advertising revenues are also expected to decrease by 7%, to EUR 295 million, but then increase from next year, reaching EUR 388 million by 2024.

    After growing last year, the radio, music and podcast segment is expected to fall by 9% this year to EUR 27 million, but it will return to growth and reach EUR 38 million in four years.