We’re starting a new blog post series called “The Ugly Truth”, and the purpose of each post is to ask and answer the most difficult question pertaining to our industry. The question is carefully selected, and it reflects the question we get asked the most from our customers, media companies, investors, and so on. Today’s question is – Who are Akamai’s Media Customers?
The easiest way to answer that question is to ask another question – Who are the largest media companies in the US?
The first thing we need to do is look at the data. As we see below, the nine largest US Media Companies generated $276B in annual sales in 2014 and have a present day market valuation of $640B.
- Generated $276B in annual revenue in 2014
- And have combined market valuation of $640B presently
| Â Companies | Global Rank | 2014 Sales in Billions | 2015 Mkt Cap in $B |
|
| 1 | Comcast | 57 | 69 | 151 |
| 2 | Walt Disney | 100 | 49 | 195 |
| 3 | 21st Century Fox | 152 | 32 | 59 |
| 4 | Time Warner | 156 | 27 | 55 |
| 5 | Time Warner Cable | 252 | 23 | 53 |
| 6 | Directv | 300 | 33 | 47 |
| 7 | CBS | 367 | 14 | 30 |
| 8 | Viacom | 380 | 14 | 20 |
| 9 | Dish | 520 | 15 | 30 |
| Â source | ->yahoo finance | Â Totals | $276B | $640B |
Now lets do the same with GAFAN+M. As we see below, GAFAN+M generated $502B in annual sales in 2014, and has a present day market valuation of $2.28 trillion dollars.
- Generated $502B in 2014 Sales
- And has market valuation of $2.28 Trillion dollars
| Â Companies | 2014 Sales in Billions | 2015 Mkt Cap in $B | |
| 66 | 505 | ||
| Apple | 234 | 675 | |
| 13 | 303 | ||
| Amazon | 89 | 310 | |
| Netflix | 6 | 49 | |
| Microsoft | 94 | 439 | |
| Â Total | $502B | $2.281 T |
When we add the 9 largest media companies to GAFAN+M, we get the $3 Trillion Beast:
- Fifteen US companies generated $778B in 2014 sales
- Fifteen US companies are worth $2.9 trillion
According the Business Insider, the largest media companies control 90% of the media in the US. Now if we throw in GAFAN+M, my guess is that number jumps up to 98%.
The Ugly Truth: Every piece of information we consume, from Mickey Mouse to searches to sitcoms to movies is controlled by a dozen companies. And the job of every researcher in the industry just got a lot harder, because now we must sift through more useless information to find the Ugly Truth.