Media stock making waves once again as Discovery and Viacom begin to move

For quite some time now, the media and entertainment industry has been on the backfoot compared to large pharmaceutical giants on stock markets on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

What's the connection? The two are completely different from one another.

Whilst there is no similarity whatsoever in the products or services that the media and pharma industries produce and distribute, there is a similarity in the sudden increase in revenues for both, due to the actions of global governments. The pharmaceutical companies are the providers of large consignments of medication, and the media has provided entertainment for those locked down, and news which is avidly followed by all citizens around the world eager to know the next step.

Therefore, it is perhaps fair to say that this has been a time of buoyancy for large media companies. Their news divisions are being watched by larger audiences than they would have been two years ago, subscriptions to television channels has increased due to cinemas being closed and lockdowns being in place making the television a central source of entertainment, and televised advertising has increased because advertisers know they can reach a larger audience.

Compared to the widely recognized rush to the top experienced by the large drug conglomerates, the focus on media company stock has been lacking, but recent movements within big US-listed media firms show that it is definitely in vogue.

Discovery Inc (LON: 0IBF) is one of America's giants in the entertainment and media field, however despite being based in New York, its stock is listed on the London Stock Exchange. Perhaps tech stock is where it is currently at in the United States, whereas the London market is favorable to large media.

Discovery stock is up 2.63% on the moving average during the course of a one-week period, and is at its highest point for 10 days.

This is still a low compared to a month ago when it was trading at $27.69, however during period between September 10 and October 18, Discovery stock suddenly went on a wild ride and reached $43 per share before dropping in mid-October at the same steep rate at which it climbed just a month earlier.

This is genuine volatility, and a welcome bout of movement it is too, considering the stagnant situation it found itself in for a year before the October rally.

Today, Discovery is one of the big movers on the London market.

Continuing with the media theme, Viacom, which is listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the ticker symbol NASDAQ:VIAC is equally being looked at as a big mover today.

Viacom, which owns CBS, one of America's most watched broadcast channels, is a top gainer according to CNBC's morning report, with gains of 5.108% having been achieved.

Since 1.30pm on the US trading session on December 2, Viacom stock had risen in value from $29.43 to $31.88 by 11.00am yesterday which, considering that this is a big cap company, is quite a considerable increase.

Clearly, therefore, stocks in the entertainment and media industry are worth watching, as their movements are correlated to the current geopolitical sphere in an almost equally correlated fashion as the pharmaceutical firms that are enjoying similar periods of buoyancy and volatility.