Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Netflix versus Amazon Prime Video – depth versus breadth

Cover image for Netflix versus Amazon Prime Video – depth versus breadth
Tim Mulligan
The first half of 2021 has been a year of continued change and disruption for subscription video. The global incumbent subscription video on demand (SVOD) leaders, Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, have been busy signalling to the financial markets how they intend to entrench their market dominance in light of the ongoing market acquisition pushes unleashed by the D2C disruptors following the D2C ‘big bang’ moment of Q4 2019 – Q2 2021.
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Why video streaming needs to stop fighting the last consumer war

Cover image for Why video streaming needs to stop fighting the last consumer war
Tim Mulligan
Video streaming services have achieved mainstream engagement, with binge viewing now eclipsing linear TV viewing as the leading form of TV show consumption. While the digital disruptors may revel in their newfound status as the masters of TV consumption, and the TV and film industry are forced to adapt to this new reality, a subtler shift in mindset needs to occur.
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Music and podcasts are competing for the same time

Cover image for Music and podcasts are competing for the same time
Mark Mulligan
The pandemic changed media consumption. Consumers acquired an extra 12% of entertainment time and though everything was up, some categories grew much faster than others. One of the biggest gainers was spoken word audio, with podcasts and audiobooks seeing dramatic rises and while music hours grew too, the increase was below 12%, which means that music lost share.
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Why we could see Epic Games gradually turn Fall Guys into free to play?

Cover image for Why we could see Epic Games gradually turn Fall Guys into free to play?
Karol Severin
Fall Guys characters are venturing out into Super Bomberman’s free-to-play new release. It is the first time a Fall Guys character crosses over to another game. It is an interesting way to market a paid game to wider audiences and raise awareness for Fall Guys – a marketing push it needs if its business model is to remain unchanged in the long term.
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Instagram drops the Like and WhatsApp defends privacy in India: Facebook’s PR reinvention

Cover image for Instagram drops the Like and WhatsApp defends privacy in India: Facebook’s PR reinvention
Hanna Kahlert
Facebook is now old enough that there are teenagers on it that are younger than it is. In the time that it has been around, it has reinvented social media . It has also had to do some reinventing of itself, adding to its portfolio image-sharing app Instagram and end-to-end encrypted messaging service WhatsApp to form a powerful trifecta dominating mainstream digital socialisation.
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The reign of the superstar is over

Cover image for The reign of the superstar is over
Hanna Kahlert
It is growing ever-more difficult to generate a singular ‘big hit’. Awards shows have always had their issues with keeping relevant, but with streaming for both music and video exponentially increasing the amount of content released while simultaneously diluting the social context around big releases, a saturated attention environment makes it increasingly difficult to judge just what is ‘award worthy’ – and who it is that will care.
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Why Netflix is now the canary in the peak streaming coal mine

Cover image for Why Netflix is now the canary in the peak streaming coal mine
Tim Mulligan
After 10 years of uninterrupted growth, culminating in the entertainment bonanza of the great lockdown of 2020, Netflix is now post-growth after missing Q1 subscriber targets. Cue a 10% fall in Netflix’s share price, and angst-ridden analytical pieces about how Netflix is now losing market share, both in absolute growth (the streaming service missed its Q1 2021 subscriber target), and in engagement time.
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