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 as blockbuster behemoth?

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Tim Mulligan
Today Netflix announces its Q4 2020 results. Widely recognised as one of the standout business winners of 2020, Netflix avoided any D2C ‘Big Bang ’disruption by seeing its dominant streaming video position enhanced through the 1 5% of additional entertainment time which suddenly became available to consumers during the successive waves of lockdown which were rolled out by governments across the world to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Is this the beginning of the end for Instagram?

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Hanna Kahlert
It has been a rocky month for social media – and a not-so-promising beginning to a new year. Years of debate have raged over the role of platforms like Facebook and Twitter in the content they host, and the impact it has – ranging from filter bubbles, to “fake news”, to campaigns against minority groups resulting in violence in Myanmar , have all brought to bear the responsibility of becoming mainstream portals to the Internet of Everything.
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Virtual concerts: A new video format

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Mark Mulligan
The global pandemic thrust the live music sector into chaos, with global revenues falling by 75% in 2020 compared to one year previously. The music industry was rocked by first-order impacts (no concerts, no fan engagement) and second-order impacts (many artists realising that streaming did not add up without live income alongside it).
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What measures an artist's success in today's music industry?

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Keith Jopling
It’s that time of year again for lists. Endless top albums and song rankings that can be a bonus for a music artist to be included on. A placement on an influential list (which ones those are is more of a debate these days, but let’s say Pitchfork for example, or Rolling Stone, or perhaps Fader or Pigeons & Planes if you are a hip hop artist) might just get you a few more curious eyeballs on socials and a few more streams.
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English Premiership Rugby gets set for a digital shake-up

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Alistair Taylor
Tech major Amazon is reportedly looking to add to its burgeoning sports right portfolio, targeting the domestic broadcast rights for English Premiership Rugby. London Irish owner, Mick Crossan, confirmed the giant’s entry into the tender process to the Mail on Sunday , following Amazon’s experiment with live streaming rugby after its acquisition and £20 million lifeline for the exclusive UK broadcast rights to last months’ inaugural Autumn Nations Cup .
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Global independent label survey

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Mark Mulligan
MIDiA Research is conducting a major study of independent label revenue in order to create a definitive review of the independent sector’s contribution to the global music market. MIDiA conducted this work for a number of years on behalf of the Worldwide Independent Network and is now independently creating a dataset for 2020.
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