““Regarding all these platforms, and I think specifically around TikTok, we like to be friendly. We are friendly people, and more than happy. My phone is open, unfortunately, 24 hours a day. Hopefully we can find solutions.”“
Grange was speaking on a call with analysts after the company's fourth-quarter results, discussing what the Wall Street Journal described as the nuclear option of removing their music videos from TikTok, in a dispute over fees and other issues.
Michael Nash, the company's chief digital officer, says the company hopes it can recover some lost revenue on other platforms, such as Reels from Meta Platforms or YouTube Shorts from Alphabet. He pointed out that in India, TikTok was banned in 2020, and users went to other platforms – although the big difference in this dispute is that TikTok was not banned while Universal Music is not on the Bytedanced-owned platform.
Removals only began earlier this month, so it's too early to know the impact, Nash said. “We know that Universal Music Group's podcast consumption remains stable globally and regionally, both frontline and catalogue. In fact, we have not observed any notable negative impact on our broader digital business. In fact, we have seen an uptick in terms of frontline and catalog within a short period of time,” according to a text from FactSet.
He also cited data from Apptopia, showing that annual growth and time spent on TikTok slowed from 1% in the two months before the end of the deal to -3% in the second half of February.
Universal Music is participating with UMG,
It rose 4%, as the company announced a restructuring that will generate savings of €125 million annually, including €75 million this year.
Dutch company Hilversum said fourth-quarter adjusted EBITDA rose 9.2% to 677 million euros with revenue growing 9% to 3.21 billion euros, thanks to sales from Taylor Swift as well as the Rolling Stones, Drake, Jung Kook and Stray Kids. . Earnings were in line with expectations on revenues that were slightly above estimates.
