MIDiA Blog - Page 14

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.

Why acquiring Paramount would transform Sony’s cross-entertainment future

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Ben Woods

8 May 2024

Paramount Global

When rumours began circulating of a Paramount sale, TV streaming was already entering a new phase. The industry’s biggest beasts have been locked in an all-out war for subscribers, spending and borrowing big to capture as much of the market as possible.

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Audio is not enough: Why audio platforms and creators are betting on video

Cover image for Audio is not enough: Why audio platforms and creators are betting on video

Rutger Rosenborg

8 May 2024

subscription video on demand

Video may have killed the radio star, but digital audio platforms and creators increasingly see video as a beneficial supplement to podcasts and audiobooks. From ghost podcasts filmed for social media advertising to podcasts following in the footsteps of TV and film and Amazon opening the IP tap for its Audible to Prime Video pipeline , video crossing over to audio — and vice versa — is a trend that will only continue.

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

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

Tim Mulligan

7 May 2024

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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Focusing too much on Xbox's hardware decline misses the point

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Rhys Elliott

2 May 2024

Microsoft recently released its Q1 2024 financial results (fiscal Q3). Gaming revenue was up +51% and Xbox content / services revenue was up +62%. These gains mostly came from Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition.

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Amazon opens the IP tap for its Audible to Prime Video pipeline — your move, Apple

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Rutger Rosenborg

2 May 2024

subscription video on demand

Streaming video

Marvel proved that spinning out intellectual property (IP) from comic books to movie franchises could be incredibly lucrative. With the growth of video games, this transmedia strategy has expanded to streaming video on demand (SVOD) with successes like The Last of Us on HBO Max and, most recently, Fallout on Amazon Prime Video.

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What TikTok and Spotify have in common

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Tatiana Cirisano

2 May 2024

In all likelihood, it has been years since anyone working in music went a week without talking about TikTok. In fact, the same probably goes for anyone with an internet connection. The platform’s clash — and now, reunion — with Universal Music Group; potential to be banned in the U.

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AI video generators have underestimated the appeal of being a suffering artist

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Ben Woods

1 May 2024

video production

Given the tussle for technological dominance between Asia and the West, it is unsurprising that China has launched a competitor to OpenAI’s Sora . Unveiled at the ZGC Forum in Beijing on Saturday (April 27, 2024), Vidu is China’s text-to-video model that can generate content with simple prompts.

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Music fandom’s future (and its existential crisis)

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Hanna Kahlert

1 May 2024

The launch of Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, broke records last week (small surprise there). Swift’s reputation for playing to her fanbase has once again proven to be in a class of its own – be it changing the fortunes of cinema chains , or altering local economies with her tour.

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We need ‘real’ artists for the return to reality

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Kriss Thakrar

1 May 2024

The big theme of MIDiA’s 2024 predictions is that ‘ the algorithm is not listening ’. A third of the way into the year, we are seeing more and more evidence that this is the case. The past few years have seen social media feeds become hyper-personalised to the point where algorithms now know us too intimately.

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Video Creators: Tell us how you create for a chance to win $500

Cover image for Video Creators: Tell us how you create for a chance to win $500

Ben Woods

30 Apr 2024

Creator economy

MIDiA is building a new research stream focused on video creators and the tools they use to create. We are striving to understand the unique workflows and creative processes that underpin the art of making engaging video content.

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

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

Tim Mulligan

30 Apr 2024

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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Fallout is another transmedia hit, but the strategy needs to evolve

Cover image for Fallout is another transmedia hit, but the strategy needs to evolve

Rhys Elliott

26 Apr 2024

Everyone was talking about the Super Mario Bros. Movie (The Mario movie ) and HBO’s The Last of Us this time last year, and now Fallout has entered the mainstream thanks to the Amazon show. But, for game publishers, the transmedia strategy is nowhere near maximising its potential.

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Spotify’s publisher dilemma: Audiobook bundling makes music publishers mad — is all-in-one audio sustainable?

Cover image for Spotify’s publisher dilemma: Audiobook bundling makes music publishers mad — is all-in-one audio sustainable?

Rutger Rosenborg

25 Apr 2024

Music streaming

Try as you might, you cannot make everyone happy. Spotify is learning that the hard way as the company tries to make the case for audiobooks to users, shareholders, and the book publishing industry — all while trying to maintain its complex relationship with the music industry.

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Taylor Swift, The Black Dog, and the fan frenzy flywheel

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Kriss Thakrar

25 Apr 2024

A new Taylor Swift album is almost guaranteed to start a fan frenzy - the question is, what form will it take? Breaking Spotify records is a given, but digital consumption is not enough to satiate super fandom.

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Why Netflix will no longer publicly report subscribers

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Tim Mulligan

23 Apr 2024

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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Inverse incentives: the implications of Spotify’s Substack integration for podcasts

Cover image for Inverse incentives: the implications of Spotify’s Substack integration for podcasts

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Apr 2024

As platform decay seeps into major tech platforms and microcultures proliferate across the internet, feature development becomes less about building native tools and more about third-party integrations .

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How will AI change the video creator tools’ value chain?

Cover image for How will AI change the video creator tools’ value chain?

Ben Woods

18 Apr 2024

When it comes to selling software and hardware, the creatoreconomy resembles other types of hobby. Take sports: there are plenty of cheapfootballs and tennis rackets out there for consumers who want to start playing.

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Bifurcation theory | How today’s music business will become two

Cover image for Bifurcation theory | How today’s music business will become two

Mark Mulligan

18 Apr 2024

Bifurcation theory

future of music

One of things we pride ourselves on at MIDiA is helping the marketplace peer over the horizon with disruptive, forward-looking ideas and vision. We have a long track record of doing this (you can find a list of report links at the bottom of this post).

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Collector’s editions are becoming a backdoor for monetising early access

Cover image for Collector’s editions are becoming a backdoor for monetising early access

Rhys Elliott

17 Apr 2024

Since publishers first increased AAA game prices from $60 to $70 in 2020, many people have asked MIDiA if publishers will raise that price further. Our answer: they already have – sort of, anyway. Via collector’s editions – more expensive versions of games with extra content – publishers are already leveraging superfans’ FOMO to grow launch revenues.

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AI cannot replace creators… and the proof, surprisingly, is books

Cover image for AI cannot replace creators… and the proof, surprisingly, is books

Hanna Kahlert

17 Apr 2024

Creator economy

The asset-class-ification of entertainment has tended to reduce art to content made only to ensnare views, which lends itself to generative AI uptake. However, in a digital economy increasingly looking towards fandom for solutions, this environment has not exactly fostered the development of ideas, stories, and art worth being a fan of .

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