Media & Technology Digest - Screen Digest 50th Anniversary Edition

Rob Gallagher

Chief Analyst, Consumer Technologies & Services

With over 25 years of experience analyzing consumer technologies and services, Rob specializes in identifying opportunities at the intersections and gaps between media, big tech, and consumer electronics markets. He regularly advises clients across the value chain, including media firms, tech giants, device makers, network operators, infrastructure vendors, investors, and regulators.

Rob began his career in 2000 as a journalist covering internet access, e-commerce, and digital media. Since joining the company that is now Omdia in 2003, he has played a key role in expanding the company’s coverage of innovative consumer services and technologies. Rob’s achievements include devising and launching several research services and leading complex consulting projects.

David Hancock

Chief Analyst, Media and Entertainment

David is a leading expert on the global film and cinema market and played a fundamental role in the conversion of cinemas to digital projection and distribution technology over the past decade. Leading Omdia’s cinema team, he has set up the cinema intelligence service and the premium cinema service, most recently. 

David has authored reports on the cinema market and participated in consultancy projects. He specializes in new business models, market sizing and valuation, competitor analysis and benchmarking, strategic roadmaps, due diligence, and market analyses. 

Since 2015, David is the President of the European Digital Cinema Forum and often contributes to media regarding the film industry. Prior to joining Omdia (formerly IHS Markit), David was as a research consultant at IDATE DigiWorld and a senior executive with Eurimages. 

He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.) in business studies and French from Leeds Beckett University in the UK and studied at the Brest Business School in France. 

Tim Westcott

Practice Lead, Digital Content & Channels

Tim leads Omdia’s research on TV and video programming and channel distribution. The core datasets in the Digital Content and Channels Intelligence service track investments in programming by channels and online video platforms, availability of linear channels and on-demand services, and sports and movie rights. The service also tracks the offerings of on-demand providers in the US and six key international markets.

Tim joined Omdia’s predecessor company Screen Digest in 2004, where his areas of focus included TV production, animation, sports rights, and public broadcasting. He has also edited more than 100 editions of the monthly Media and Technology Digest (formerly Screen Digest). Before that, Tim worked at the European Audiovisual Observatory in Strasbourg, France, and in a variety of journalism roles, including the Financial Times Group, EMAP (now Ascential), and Television Business International. Tim holds a Master of Arts (Hons.) degree in English literature from Trinity College, Cambridge. He holds dual UK and French nationality and is based in London.

Steven Bailey

Principal Analyst, Video Games

Steve specializes in the online PC gaming market, virtual worlds, online consoles, as well as casual, browser-based, and social gaming. 

He also provides consultancy services for major international clients and general games intelligence service work. Steve focuses on subscription and micro-transaction markets in the West as well as in emerging gaming sectors.

Prior to joining Omdia, Steve had an accomplished career in games journalism in a variety of magazine roles, including as editor of a TV-based games portal. Most notably, he lent his distinctive voice as a freelance writer to Edge, the influential games periodical. Over the six years of his career as a writer, Steve published several thousand published pages of video game content within the specialist press.

Steve attended Cardiff University in Wales, completing a PhD in mathematics with an emphasis on numerical analysis and multivariate calculus.  

Tony Gunnarsson

Principal Analyst, TV, Video & Advertising

As part of Omdia's media and entertainment team, Tony Gunnarsson covers the global online video sector, with a specific interest in direct-to-consumer video services, across both subscription and transactional video, as well as online video aggregation.

His main research interests are in the premium, paid-for subscription online video (SVOD). Tony provides analysis of the key developments in the global online video market, consumer insights, and business intelligence. He also writes on adjacent developments in the broader TV and home entertainment market, including the emergence of AVOD services as a vehicle for premium content. Prior to joining Informa Tech (now Omida), formerly Ovum, in 2014, Tony worked as a senior analyst at IHS Markit, formerly IHS Screen Digest. He holds a master’s degree in imperial and commonwealth history from King’s College London.

Maria Rua Aguete

Senior Research Director, Media and Entertainment

Maria Rua Aguete leads the strategic development of the media team and manages its day-to-day operations, tracking the continuing evolution of global service providers and operators. Maria first created the team while at Screen Digest, which became part of IHS Markit. 

The team’s research on service providers is deep and extensive, leveraging long-standing relationships with operators in all of the 70+ markets covered by the group, resulting in the most comprehensive source of television and operator market intelligence in the world. 

Maria is also a regular contributor to various reports, including the European Cable Yearbook, and she has led or has been a significant contributor to many consulting projects for high-profile media and technology companies, including the market-launch and purchase plans of an emerging television group, a Latin America DTT platform for a major channel group, and a satellite pay-TV provider for a private equity group. 

She has also performed commercial due diligence on a cable TV components business for a major international bank; a competitive review and strategic analysis for a major international channel operator; a comprehensive review of investment opportunities in the European cable market for a venture capital group; and a market report and due diligence on a localization services (dubbing/subtitling) company for an investment bank. 

Maria has collected many accolades throughout a storied career, and she is one of only 11 Technology Fellows named by IHS Markit during her time at the company, an honor that recognizes her deep expertise and exceptional standing within the analyst community. 

Maria holds a first class degree in economics and business studies from Vigo University in Spain, and an MBA from Cardiff Business School in Wales. She is a regular speaker at events like IBC and Mobile World Congress.