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 the UFC Wants to Replicate the Yao Ming effect

Alistair Taylor
athlete
audience culture
brand leverage
The NBA is the third highest grossing league globally, generating $7.4 billion in 2017, behind domestic rivals MLB and NFL. Whereas the MLB and NFL have largely struggled to entice a truly global following, the NBA have become synonymous with Chinese sports fans, and offers a template for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) to grow its international fanbase.
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Is Cricket the New ‘Greatest Show on Turf’?

Alistair Taylor
21st Century Fox
ad skippers
addressable audience
Even before the St. Louis (now LA) Rams were setting records in the NFL during the 1999-2001 seasons, earning the nickname ‘The Greatest Show on Turf’, the Super Bowl was viewed as an unrivalled opportunity to advertise brands, products, and movie trailers to the masses that tune in (or increasingly stream) to watch the showpiece for the world’s most valuable league .
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The Content We Need, the Distribution We Don’t: Why HBO Needs to up Its Game to Stay Relevant

Hanna Kahlert
Video
Game of Thrones (spoilers) – to the relief, disgruntlement and/or (dis)satisfaction of millions – has ended. Eight years of global rapture (well, five to six followed by two of tolerance) finally sent us all on our ways, be that sailing west to the unknown, ruling what we’ve fought for, or simply going home to the ear scratches most deserved of all.
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Why LA’s Finest Could Be Pay-TV’s House of Cards Moment

Tim Mulligan
Gabrielle Union
Jessica Alba
LA's Finest
When an irresistible force comes along there are two options: either get out of the way, or go with the flow. Charter Communications, the third largest US traditional pay-TV operator, has decided to do just that by buying for its Spectrum cable service the exclusive rights to Sony Pictures production LA’s Finest – a project brought to fruition by actor and producer Gabrielle Union.
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Announcing Beta Testing for Innovative TV Show Performance Tracking Platform

Cover image for Announcing Beta Testing for Innovative TV Show Performance Tracking Platform
Dara Jegede
Chart Of The Week
Innovation
Strategy
MIDiA Research, a leading source of insight and analysis in digital media, music, video and games, is expanding its family of data tools and analytics intelligence to TV shows. The new development, MIDiA Index , is a robust and powerful measurement proposition that aggregates manifold data types from multiple sources to create a unique and accurate reading of how well TV shows are really performing, demonstrating their true value to TV networks and establishing who the audiences consuming the shows are.
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Profit Didn't Disappear, It Just Moved

Cover image for Profit Didn't Disappear, It Just Moved
Mark Mulligan
One of the recurring themes in analysis of tech businesses is the role of profit, and most often, the apparent lack of it – or at the very least, the way in which it plays second fiddle to growth. Amazon, one of the most successful global businesses in today’s global economy, famously sacrificed profit for much of its existence in order to focus on long-term growth and expansion.
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Quick Take: The Bull Argument for Music Publishing Acquisitions

Zach Fuller
Music
The music rights landgrab continues. This past week alone has seen Primary Wave take a stake in rights to Culture Club, having already inked a deal with the Whitney Houston Estate. Meanwhile, Hipgnosis Song fund have added to their recent acquisition of Eurythmic’s writer credits by taking a stake in the royalties of Al Jackson, a composer whose credits include songs by Otis Redding and Al Green.
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Sports SVOD Services: The Underdogs’ Game

Hanna Kahlert
addressable audience
binge -viewing
carriage partnerships
Cord cutting and “the attention economy” are the landscaping trends reshaping everything video in 2019, and sports television – despite its reliably existent fanbase – is no exception. New sports proposition streaming video on demand (SVOD) entrants face hefty competition on all sides, from regionally established SVOD services with more varied offerings to tech majors waiting in the wings to buy up the biggest rights before moving onto the scene.
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