Bank of America Corporation analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich said that as more and more streaming platforms compete for advertising revenue$Disney (DIS.US)$The development prospects of major media companies and their revenue in 2023 will be challenging. Due to the uncertainty of the future, the advertising market in the United States will continue to fluctuate next year.

The analyst believes that the shift of advertising budget from television's "linear viewing" to streaming services, new streaming options that support advertising, and the growth of "retail media networks" such as Amazon.Com Inc will increase the amount of advertising budget. but the price is a decline in traditional linear advertising growth.

Ehrlich said that while many media companies are involved in streaming media that support advertising, their ad load has not changed significantly. In the long run, she is skeptical that these companies will fully recover lost linear advertising revenue.

Among the companies that Ehrlich calls stand out but don't grow strongly is Walt Disney Company. The media and entertainment giant recently attracted attention for the sudden dismissal of CEO Bob Chapek and the return of Bob Iger to the company. Ehrlich said investors and the media industry were largely "celebrating" the return of Iger, calling Iger a strong, capable and charismatic leader. But it may take time for Walt Disney Company to regain his magic, as Iger faces a number of strategic and operational decisions that will affect the company's development in the coming years.

The decisions include how to restructure Walt Disney Company's media and entertainment division (DMED), including Disney+, whether to raise the price of theme parks, how to deal with the option of Hulu and whether to spin off ESPN and other linear TV networks.

Ehrlich said Iger was likely to move quickly on restructuring, which could lead to more management departures. For example, when Kareem Daniel,Iger, the former head of DMED, returned to Walt Disney Company, his first move was to remove him. Ehrlich wants Iger to spend more time evaluating other things before making large-scale strategic changes.

Content spending remains the focus of media and entertainment companies. Ehrlich said content spending was leveling off as media companies such as Netflix Inc hinted that they were cutting content budgets. "We believe that inflationary pressure on content spending will continue until 2023, and a stable content budget with year-on-year growth means that output will be lower or cheaper content mix will increase," she said. "

One area where content demand is expected to remain high is sports copyright. Ehrlich pointed out that Amazon.Com Inc won the right to broadcast the NFL game on Thursday night, and Apple Inc also won the exclusive broadcast right to the Major League Football match, indicating that the market demand for sports will remain strong in the coming years.

Due to a variety of factors, the media industry is approaching the turning point of a new round of business integration, but it is difficult to determine the exact timing of any transformational transactions.

"We believe that the strategic vision developed by Bob Iger for Walt Disney Company could be a potential catalyst and the resulting huge impact could trigger a domino effect across the industry," Ehrlich said.