YouTube has been notoriously coy about its user growth, with the official PR line for the company still stating that it has ‘Over one billion users.’ For a company that has been the driving force behind online video consumption for the last 12 years, YouTube has been both derided for the superficiality of its video content and for using its safe harbour privileges to undermine existing media models.

Facebook has commissioned LaVar Ball for a docu-series, which revolves around his basketball superstar sons - Lonzo, Liangelo, LaMelo and their fast-rising careers in the second most widely viewed sport in the US.

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media in 2018. Key Predictions Competition for time and attention will define the coming years for digital content; growth will come often at the expense of competing services Free-to-view video services will provide subscription services with increased competition in 2018 2018 will be the year we start to see music consumption shift away from catalogue Increased investor scrutiny on Spotify, once it is public, will see it focus on new metrics and concentrate more heavily on its free user numbers We are nearing peak in the attention economy.

October 27 was one of the busiest days in terms of major games releases in 2017. On that day, Super Mario Odyssey, Assassin’s Creed and Wolfenstein II were released, attracting gamers across the genre spectrum.

I have written about the journey of the network-level adblocker Shine numerous times. The company has come into the public eye due to its disruptive effort of offering adblocking at the network level to carriers.

Twitter has launched Twitter Lite on Google Play store in 24 countries. The move comes after successful testing in the Philippines. Users in countries where mobile data is expensive, and perhaps disposable income is relatively low, will welcome the Lite version.

Last night at the Oscars Netflix finally won its first Academy Award, and then a second one, and then a third one. Like London buses, Netflix had spent a long time waiting and then suddenly three came along at once.

It has been a strange few years for SoundCloud. Since its emergence out of the Berlin tech scene of the late 2000s, it struggled to convert its popularity with creators into a commercially viable business, despite courting $1 billion-plus valuations and mooted acquisitions from Spotify back in 2016.

Universal Music Group recorded an impressive €6 billion in revenue in 2018, bolstering a JP Morgan valuation of $50 billion . No doubt, UMG is enjoying a purple patch, riding and driving the wave of recorded music industry growth.

Eleven Sports announced last week it had successfully agreed long-term distribution agreements with all four TV operators in Portugal – Altice, NOS, Nowo and Vodafone. Achieving this agreement puts Eleven Sports on TV platforms across 3.

Last Thursday 14th February 2019 Bloomberg reported that Apple is now in control of Operatedata Ltd – the UK based startup, home to the DataTiger brand. The company says its technology can “individually optimise marketing flows for your customers in real time across all channels”.

On March 25 th Apple is planning an event to formally announce the launch of both its forthcoming video and news subscription services. Likely attendees include Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Garner and director JJ Abrams – the Hollywood talent behind a slate of originals set to appear on the video service.

Scooter Braun and Zach Katz’s venture Raised In Space Enterprises, owned by Braun’s Ithica Holdings, announced last week it had acquired New York-basedAtlas Music Publishing. The deal was the latest in a wave of catalogue acquisitions, whereby it’s no longer just conventional music companies competing for copyright, but also numerous financial institutions increasingly piling into the music acquisition space.

Following the English Premier League (EPL) announcing in November its plans to launch its own streaming service for the next rights cycle (2022-2025), the Sunday Times reported that the EPL is coming close to launching.

Spotify finished 2018 strongly, over performing in both subscriber and ad supported MAU additions. This was accompanied by Spotify’s first ever profitable quarter and two major podcast acquisitions early in 2019 hinting at a positive year ahead.

The egg that beat Kylie Jenner for the highest number of likes on an Instagram photo partnered with Hulu to promo an ad following the Super Bowl. Rather than ‘sell out’ for a branded message, The Egg’s (also known by fans as ‘Eugene’) first spot on Hulu (titled: S1 E1), was a message encouraging people coping with mental health issues to seek support from Mental Health America – providing the relevant links.

On Sunday (February 10), movie catalogue specialist Epix announced the launch of its first direct-to-consumer service Epix Now . Access to Epix’s programming was previously only available through its four channels currently carried by its pay-TV operator partners.

Just last week (February 5th) Electronic Arts (EA) reported disappointing quarterly results, now Activision has laid off nearly 800 staff, mostly in marketing and sales. As MIDiA has reported multiple times before , engagement has declined throughout the sector, suggesting that the attention economy has peaked.