Tim Mulligan

Tim is MIDiA's research director and senior video analyst. His research focus is streaming TV, and the intersection between established and emerging monetisation and engagement models for consuming TV and film. Underpinning this is a focus upon the business strategy and financial environment around which video services compete. Supporting this supply side coverage is a detailed overview of the consumer dynamics driving engagement from fandom to subscription challenges and video ad responsiveness.

The state of the video creator economy
Creativity in a streamlined world

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

July 2024

Business Strategy

Creator economy

The video creator tools industry is primed for turbo-charged growth as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the consumerisation of creation. While the opportunity is significant, a considered approach is needed to ensure AI elevates the creator economy’s success at turning passive consumers into monetisable creators.

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OpenAI's Sora
From hype to pragmatism

Case Study

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

July 2024

Business Strategy

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Why the ‘New Paramount’ is placing AI creation at is core

Tim Mulligan

9 Jul 2024

Skydance media

David Ellison

Video

Yesterday, Skydance Media CEO David Ellison outlined hisvision for Paramount Global as a rebooted technology-media hybrid company .This follows on from Paramount finally agreeing to merge with Ellison’s Skydance Media in a new combined entity–– currently being referred to as “new Paramount”.

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The end of the debate: Why streaming TV and politics no longer mix

Tim Mulligan

2 Jul 2024

Online video

Video

Audience Insight

The “entertainmentisation” of Western politics has successfully re-energised political discourse after decades of consensus politics and has resulted in policy making that has negatively impacted voters, both economically and environmentally.

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Why Netflix is likely to follow Amazon down the mainstream subscriber ad route

Tim Mulligan

25 Jun 2024

Netflix

Amazon

advertising

Netflix’s shift towards ads was underpinned by a strategic assumption that it could justifiably command ad rates at nearly twice the market average. However, two years of its Basic with Ads service has proved that advertising is a much tougher business to succeed in for an SVOD service than the business fundamentals would suggest.

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Video churn
Streaming TV’s cord-cutting moment

Tim Mulligan

June 2024

Business Strategy

Global subscriber growth is maturing while incomes are becoming constrained and alternatives to streaming TV are proliferating. For the first time in the history of subscription video on demand (SVOD), churn is accelerating and becoming a systemic issue now that streaming is supplanting traditional pay TV.

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The ad monetisation trap and what it means for video

Tim Mulligan

18 Jun 2024

ads

SVOD

Ad-supported SVOD

Ads in subscription video on demand (SVOD) have now become normalised. In Q1 2024, Amazon Prime became the latest service to push ads onto its standard SVOD plan, following the lead of competitors Netflix and Disney.

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The future of streaming TV proves history always repeats itself

Tim Mulligan

5 Jun 2024

SVOD

midia forecasts

MIDIA Video Forecasts

Our “ MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts ” lays out our vision for the subscription video on demand (SVOD) landscape over the next eight years. Our forecasts last year focussed on the remainder of growth coming from Asia Pacific.

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MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

Tim Mulligan, Ben Woods and Mark Qi

May 2024

Business Strategy

MIDiA’s global subscription video forecasts captures a broad view of the market. With limited video subscriber growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and increased diversity of monetisation models, such as the introduction of lower cost, ad-supported tiers.

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Why Amazon is bidding for NBA international rights

Tim Mulligan

28 May 2024

NBA

sports rights

Sports

The North American Basketball association (NBA) is currently negotiating for the renewal ofof its live broadcast rights. The deals, spanning the next 11 years, are estimated to work out at a combined $76 billion (some way below the NFL’s 2021 $100 billion 11-year deal ).

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Netflix, the NFL, and the Amazon effect

Tim Mulligan

21 May 2024

NFL

Netflix

sports streaming

After two decades of saying no to becoming a live sports streamer, Netflix has finally relented and has agreed to pay the NFL to show two NFL games on Christmas daythis year. The three year deal also includes options for other holiday games to be livestreamed in 2025 and 2026.

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Back to the future; (Non-device) entertainment returns to the fore for Sony

Tim Mulligan

14 May 2024

cross-entertainment strategy

Media Fusion

Sony

Today, (May 14th) Sony Group published its results for the Fiscal Year ended March 31, 2024. Group revenues were up 19% to 13 trillion yen which amounts to USD 86 billion (in USD, this makes a more modest revenue growth of 14% for the previous 12 months).

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Disney’s direct-to-consumer business is now profitable – so what comes next?

Tim Mulligan

7 May 2024

Disney

Disney+

direct-to-consumer

Today, Disney announced its fiscal second quarter 2024 financial results (calendar Q1 2024). All eyes were on the Entertainment Segment, where its direct-to-consumer (D2C) division matched MIDiA’s call that it would finally post its first ever operating profit four and a half years after the launch of Disney+.

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Net Neutrality 2.0 - Back to the future or is this something different?

Tim Mulligan

30 Apr 2024

net neutrality

FCC

broadband

The decision taken last Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to restore the regulated status of open access to the internet has re-ignited the net neutrality wars in the US. In it its official press release , the FCC stated that it had “voted to restore a national standard to ensure the internet is fast, open, and fair.

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Why Netflix will no longer publicly report subscribers

Tim Mulligan

23 Apr 2024

Netflix

Churn

svod churn

Netflix’s Q1 2024 numbers are impressive: revenues are up 15% Year on Year (YoY), operating income is up 54%, and operating margin increased by seven percentage points to 28%. The numbers were so impressive, in fact, that Netflix stated in its shareholder letter that it was now re-positioning itself to “better reflect our investment grade status.

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Litigation versus innovation-treading the IP tightrope in the AI era

Tim Mulligan

17 Apr 2024

OpenAI

AI

New York times

The year so far has been largely shaped by AI and perception of just how much it is poised to transform consumer lives. The primary focus has been on the technology and how it may be applied. However, the emerging legal framework around which the AI ecosystem will operate is equally important.

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Mainstreaming the metaverse
The Apple Vision Pro and entertainment’s opportunity

Tim Mulligan

April 2024

Business Strategy

The Q1 2024 US launch of the Apple Vision Pro virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR) device has reignited interest in the metaverse, a bus that has so far stubbornly refused to arrive. Apple’s intent is to deliver at-home immersive VR and AR experiences for affluent but mainstream consumers.

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SwanDive
An Immersive video subscription service optimised for the Apple Vision Pro

Case Study

Tim Mulligan

April 2024

Business Strategy

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The rise of the IP bank

Tim Mulligan

10 Apr 2024

IP Bank

IP)

metaverse

Post-lockdown saw the rise of media fusion into mainstream media formats, with games titles such as The Last of Us being made into episodic TV series. This followed the metaverse V1 experiences of live streamed music concerts from the likes of Travis Scott and Marshmello in Epic Game’s Fortnite .

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Disney’s IP bank is its ultimate superpower which it needs to double down on investing in hybrid IRL success

Tim Mulligan

4 Apr 2024

Disney

ar

VR

Disney’s annual shareholder meeting has confirmed that its management team, led by streaming and IP visionary Bob Iger, remains firmly in control of the media major’s destiny by thwarting Nelson Peltz’s push to acquire a board seat.

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