Blog - Page 16

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.

The verdict is in: Music is podcasting’s biggest missed opportunity

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Jun 2024

Podcasts Spotify podcast market

While there are plenty of charts that provide insight into the most downloaded podcasts on each platform globally, these data give a very granular perspective on consumer preferences. Podcast platforms, in turn, have access to private user data, but again these data are largely limited to each platf...

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Why creative friction can tackle the ‘Slot Machine Effect’ in AI generated video

Ben Woods

19 Jun 2024

Video creator tools Social video Showrunner

AI-generated content is a polarising topic. Some view AI video generation as a vital tool for bringing creativity and communication to the masses. Others believe it to be a solution in search of a problem.

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Commodification’s kickbacks: trends emerging in the pendulum swing back from content overload and AI

Hanna Kahlert

18 Jun 2024

Fandom monetisation trends

It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the state of entertainment (and culture more broadly). AI generated content is taking up ever-larger swathes of the internet. Passive consumption drives high numbers that don’t translate into value, and remuneration for music creators is low while profits at label...

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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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Mainstream is the new niche

Mark Mulligan

14 Jun 2024

mainstream Niche superstars

Five years ago, we made the call that ‘niche is the new mainstream’ . Today, this dynamic is so fundamental to music and culture that we are firmly in the stage of second order consequences. Superstars are getting smaller, the long tail is getting longer, and rightsholders are bringing in earnin...

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Xbox’s Games Showcase points to a reckoning for game subscriptions

Rhys Elliott

13 Jun 2024

Xbox Game Pass Xbox Games

“Play it day one with Game Pass.” These words flashed on the screen 15 times during the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, which wowed critics and fans alike with a lineup of 30 Xbox games. Most of the titles are coming in 2024 or 2025, which is a huge turning point for Xbox.

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Did Charli XCX go mainstream, or did the mainstream just go niche?

Tatiana Cirisano

13 Jun 2024

fragmented fandom Consumer behaviour Charli XCX

“ I’m famous, but not quite ,” Charli XCX sings on ‘I might say something stupid’, a moment of honest insecurity amidst the brash club anthems that make up her new album Brat . It is a familiar refrain for the artist, who has spent her decade-plus career wavering between the mainstream and...

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Spotify’s engagement game: How Nebula and direct video uploads could change podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

12 Jun 2024

Podcasts Video podcasts Spotify

In May 2019, Dave Wiskus and a handful of YouTubers launched an independent subscription service called Nebula. The purpose of Nebula was to provide creators — namely, video creators, podcasters, and educators — with an alternative to YouTube’s multi-channel networks.

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Another Fake Drake? AI is decoupling artists and their voices (and there’s no coming back)

Hanna Kahlert

12 Jun 2024

AI Drake heart on my sleeve

Drake has had perhaps one of the most publicly up-and-down relationships with generative AI. There was the AI Drake music generator, which he was dead set against. Then there was ‘Heart on My Sleeve’, the AI-generated mix using the voices of Drake and The Weeknd by a creator known as ghostwriter...

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Why video creation tools must go niche to survive AI streamliners like Apple Intelligence

Ben Woods

11 Jun 2024

Social video creator tools Apple

Amid the flurry of recent generative AI announcements, Apple had been strangely quiet. This changed on Monday (June 11, 2024) when it announced Apple Intelligence at its WWDC24 developer conference. In short, Apple Intelligence is a suite of consumer-focused tools embedded into Apple products to enh...

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Stability from chaos: How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry

Keith Jopling

10 Jun 2024

Music Audience Insight

How do we take the pulse of success for music artists in 2024? In 'Sustainability from chaos:How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry' , we explore this question from the artist’s point of view and from the perspective of artist services companies.

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Branded podcasts level up: Ubisoft’s gaming podcasts bring games to life for new audiences

Rutger Rosenborg

7 Jun 2024

Podcasts Gaming Marketing

As the podcast listener base grows , companies across several industries — from automotive to fast food — see podcast production as a way to market to new audiences (sort of like an audio blog). Branded podcasts are nothing new for big games publishers like PlayStation and Xbox.

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AI is promising a video creation revolution: Are you ready for the upside?

Ben Woods

6 Jun 2024

creator tools Creator economy Social video

Video has reached an inflection point. Artificial intelligence is poised to bring video creation to even more consumers, in a move that will disrupt the tools, workflows, and business models underpinning the value chain.

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PlayStation shifts lanes, letting its family-friendly ambitions known

Rhys Elliott

6 Jun 2024

Playstation VR playstation 5 Sony

Sony’s second State of Play marketing event of 2024 has increased anticipation for the company’s upcoming game releases. The roughly 30-minute presentation advertised 14 games consumers can look forward to in 2024 and 2025.

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Gen AI music platforms are niche among consumers — is being too easy the problem?

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Jun 2024

artificial intelligence Generative AI udio

We all know how hype cycles work: a new technological advancement arrives, and industries rush to apply it to anything and everything. In these situations, it is useful to ask: What problem or need is this technology actually addressing? Usually, the answer is where the real opportunity lies (or, de...

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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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The state of the attention economy: why don’t fan-first platforms work?

Hanna Kahlert

5 Jun 2024

Fandom Taylor Swift Fans

The music industry is increasingly looking to fan-first solutions to drive its next era of growth (and solve artists’ financial woes), with all eyes towards the Taylor Swift model of fan frenzy. At the heart of this quest is a tension inherent in the ‘everything everywhere all the time’ model.

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Billie Eilish delivered a superfan masterclass

Kriss Thakrar

4 Jun 2024

Music Superfans SoundCloud

While the industry standard for new releases has long been about scale and velocity, Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas, and Darkroom/Interscope, the labels behind their latest album Hit Me Hard and Soft , have delivered a masterclass in executing a superfan-focused release strategy.

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Songs as cultural moments (and why TikTok trends are so appealing)

Hanna Kahlert

31 May 2024

TikTok A&R Streaming

The music industry is racing in two different directions at once. On the one side is the push for more music to be made by more people for less money – underpinning the $500 million valuation of Suno , the generative AI music platform.

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Older gamers are a growth opportunity for AA(A) publishers

Rhys Elliott

29 May 2024

console gaming PC Minecraft

The days of gaming as a hobby only for young people are clearly over. Unlike in the past, gamers are now sticking with console and PC games into adulthood and old age. Consumers aged 55+ account for a quarter of gamers now, and that share is on the rise.

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