Time Warner Tops ZenithOptimedia Ranking of Global Media Owners

LONDON, February 22: Time Warner is number one on
ZenithOptimedia’s new ranking of the top 30 global media owners, followed by
News Corporation in the number two spot.

The top 30 companies collectively generated $215 billion
in media revenues. The rankings are based on revenues from activities that
support advertising. The revenues are from 2005, or the nearest equivalent for
companies whose financial years are different from calendar years.

Time Warner generated $29.8 billion, 13 percent of the
total. News Corp, the second largest, generated just over half that—$16.7
billion. In the number three spot was NBC Universal’s parent company GE, with
$14.7 billion in media revenues, followed by CBS Corporation with $13.4 billion
and The Walt Disney Company with $13.2 billion. The five top media owners are
all based in the U.S. Each has at least a 50-percent stake in a U.S. television
network.

In all, 16 of the top 30 media owners are from the U.S.
The other countries with media owners in the top 30 are Japan, France, the
U.K., Germany, Italy and Mexico. Non-American companies on the top 30 list
include Axel Springer, Bertelsmann, BSkyB, ITV plc., Fuji TV and Televisa.

Two new-media companies are in the top 30: Google, at
13th, and Yahoo!, at 15th.

The ranking forms part of a new report from
ZenithOptimedia called the Top Thirty Global Media Owners.