The Fold 2025 in review: The top five global media giants' years, ranked from worst to best
Dec 15, 2025
Glen Kyne, a media commentator and regular contributor, joins Duncan Greive to dissect the dynamic landscape of global media in 2025. They dive into the impact of Netflix's recent acquisition of WBD and its ripple effects on market rankings. Discussions reveal the exclusion of Disney and Amazon from the top five, and a vibrant debate on Spotify’s growth challenges versus its audio dominance. They also explore the New York Times’ innovative subscriber strategies and Skydance’s ambitious acquisitions, before ultimately ranking Netflix as the top player amid regulatory uncertainties.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Re-evaluate Rankings After Major M&A
- Treat fast-moving M&A stories as ongoing processes, not settled facts.
- Revisit rankings and strategy analyses after major announcements and regulatory developments.
Mature Platform Dilemmas: Expand Or Extract
- Mature platforms must choose between bolt-on expansion or extraction through pricing.
- Spotify illustrates the difficulty of finding a new large growth vector beyond audio dominance.
Spotify Owns The Audio Stack
- Spotify has effectively become the dominant global audio bundle, owning music, podcasts and audiobooks.
- That scale lets Spotify raise prices and reduce payouts to rights holders, materially improving profitability.