Blog: attention inflation

As we travel deeper into the era of entertainment saturation, video streaming services are facing some uncomfortable truths.Maintaining and securing audiences by green-lighting expensive series based on proven intellectual property is no longer enough to keep audiences engaged.

TikTok shook the social world two years ago by introducing its classic user-generated content (UGC) video feed and a suite of creator tools, thereby becoming a runaway success. Since then, innovation has slowed.

The music industry is in a cultural crisis. It is more demanding than ever to be a successful artist, with the work required to meet the demands of social algorithms and to cut through the clutter being more competitive than ever, in addition to touring being hit hugely by the pandemic lockdown and now by a cost-of-living crisis limiting fans’ ability to attend real-life concerts.

The covid pandemic and associated lockdown dynamic allowed entertainment consumption to reach new heights amongst a temporary surplus of free time. However, after restrictions eased, consumers found the constraints on their newfound time tighten, and had to make sacrifices, often preferring to return to real life activities at the expense of digital entertainment.