The threat of AI and the invasion of the advertising cold wave, European old media giants are facing a "difficult 2026".

Old media giants in Europe, i.e. the largest media content publishers and broadcasting companies, may face even more challenging business prospects in 2026. This is mainly due to artificial intelligence beginning to threaten and disrupt their long-established traditional business models, compounded by global macroeconomic uncertainties potentially leading to a significant decrease in advertising budgets for companies compared to 2025. Data from Bloomberg Intelligence (BI) indicates that analysts unanimously anticipate that companies in the media and entertainment subindex of the European stock market benchmark, Stoxx Europe 600 index, may achieve a profit growth of 6.9% in 2026, significantly lower than the analysts' consensus forecast growth of 10% for companies in the Stoxx Europe 600 index. Senior analyst Tom Ward from BI stated, "The significant uncertainty brought by the advertising market and artificial intelligence may continue to pressure European publishers and broadcasting companies until 2026." This negative trend may continue to impact the industry's stock pricing logic after experiencing a significant decline in 2025. As shown in the chart above, according to analysts' consensus expectations, the century-old media companies in Europe may become one of the weakest sectors in Europe in 2026. Undoubtedly, ongoing global trade tensions and political uncertainty in Europe have significantly weakened European companies' expansion confidence and squeezed their marketing budgets, posing significant pressure on advertising-dependent media companies and broadcasting companies' performance fundamentals. Ward said, "There is a close relationship between advertising expenditure and economic growth confidence. When expectations worsen, advertisers usually significantly reduce advertising investments." In October, advertising agency WPP Plc lowered its performance outlook mainly due to client losses and drying demand. In November, British broadcasting company ITV Plc stated that the "broad cautious sentiment around the UK budget" had significantly dampened advertising demand, forcing them to find 35 million (around $47 million) in savings space to mitigate the negative impact of revenue decline. Overall, Ward's calculated data shows that European broadcasting company's advertising sales in 2025 may decrease by mid-single digits on average, with "low visibility on when recovery may occur." The significant risks from artificial intelligence technology are another important concern for Europe's struggling media industry. Deutsche Bank analyst Silvia Cuneo noted, "Just as the dust seemed to settle on the Trump tariff issue, the market did not erupt in jubilation for the media industry; the emergence of artificial intelligence as a disruptive factor brings new risks." This is particularly relevant for publishers like Informa Plc, and online media platforms like Rightmove Plc and Scout24 SE, where they find that artificial intelligence is a double-edged sword. While this technology may create opportunities for new revenue growth by improving advertising tool efficiency, the integration of generative artificial intelligence with some new platforms may potentially replace some key advertising marketing products, making some of their business redundant. Some traditional business models are particularly at risk, including Pearson Plc's online higher education digital courses, as stated by another analyst John Davies from BI. The significant cut in research funding by the U.S. government has brought additional headwinds to the content publishing industry, especially for companies like Springer Nature AG & Co KGaA, which derive a significant revenue and profit from research journals. In terms of stock prices, as shown in the chart above, European content publishers and broadcasting companies have continued to perform poorly, significantly underperforming the European stock market. However, the threat posed by artificial intelligence technology to traditional media companies in Europe is still controversial among analysts. Analysts Daniel Kerven and Lara Simpson from the Wall Street financial giant JPMorgan believe that these concerns are overblown and expect a "more nuanced" positive market response next year. These two analysts suggest that companies that fail to adapt to artificial intelligence technology will be the ones to lose. "Although it remains a fluid uncertain situation, it may take several years before the impact of artificial intelligence on various industries becomes truly clear," Cuneo from Deutsche Bank stated. She expects that the winners in the European traditional media industry will be those "actively beginning to address artificial intelligence as both an opportunity and a risk." One such company may include the German real estate platform Scout24. The company has an exclusive artificial intelligence tool that allows agents to create listings and optimize images, enabling them to continually promote their B2B products, according to analyst Doyinsola Sanyaolu from Citigroup. "Its proprietary data also provides potential opportunities for cooperation with large language model (LLM) providers," added analyst Sanyaolu, making Scout24 "one of the most innovative real estate companies in the AI+ field." While investors eagerly await the positive developments of artificial intelligence in portal websites and content publishers, market sentiment may continue to remain low next year. "The macro environment remains relatively fragile, and investment themes, including media companies being disrupted by artificial intelligence, are still far from being free from market narratives," Cuneo stated.