YouTube Claims 1.5 Billion Viewers

Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube, said that 1.5 billion "logged-in viewers" visit YouTube each month. On average, viewers spend over an hour a day watching YouTube on mobile devices alone, she added. Wojcicki also signalled that YouTube will continue to invest in original content. "To date, we've launched 37 original series and movies on YouTube Red, and they've generated nearly a quarter billion views," she said. source: YouTube blog post

Verizon and Telefónica Lead on ROCE

Although the US telecoms market is often considered to be less competitive than its counterparts in Europe, Verizon is the only US telco consistently making a better return on capital employed (ROCE) than Telefónica and Orange. For the period between 2010 and 2016, AT&T's average ROCE of 7.2% trails well behind that of Verizon (10.4%) and Telefónica (9.7%).

For more information on US and European telcos' financial performance, see the recent reports published by Pringle Media.

The Kindle version of the US report is available here and the iPad version is here

The Kindle version of the Europe report is available here and the iPad version is here

T-Mobile US Matches AT&T on ROCE

On one measure, T-Mobile US is now as profitable as AT&T - return on capital employed (ROCE). In 2016, the subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom made a ROCE of 6.9%, marginally ahead of AT&T. However, for most investors that represents a pretty poor performance.  Over the past seven years, only Verizon has consistently made a respectable ROCE.

The US telecoms industry is entering a pivotal phase in its development. With the laissez-faire Trump administration, the US telecoms market may finally consolidate from four main players to three. Although intense competition seems to be good for consumers, at least in the short term, the aggressive campaign to win market share by T-Mobile US has weakened the profitability of AT&T and Verizon, while causing more pain for long-suffering Sprint.

Having already acquired DirecTV, AT&T is looking to merge with Time Warner as it seeks to become a vertically-integrated provider of consumer entertainment. Verizon is also pushing into content and advertising, albeit through smaller acquisitions, such as the ongoing purchase of parts of Yahoo!, and in-house development.

To explore the case for consolidation, Pringle Media has just published a report tracking and comparing the key financial metrics of AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile US over the past seven years. 

The Kindle version of the report is available here and the iPad version is here.