Blog: Audience engagement

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 age of the premium content creator is here – but will audiences buy into it?

Ben Woods

23 May 2025

Audience Insight

Video

Creator economy

What makes a content creator popular? At first glance, this question feels easy to answer. Successful creators often have distinctive characteristic that propel their success. MrBeast is known for his stunt video format, Twitch streamer Shroud has impeccable gameplay on first person shooters, and Antony Fantano’s candid take on music draws millions of subscribers on YouTube.

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The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

Fandom

Spotify

On the heels of positive Q4 2024 financials for Spotify , the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has not lost a step in holding the company accountable for what it sees as unauthorised music usage.

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Ban or no ban, what comes next for TikTok creators?

Hanna Kahlert

22 Jan 2025

Marketing Strategy

YouTube

TikTok

The TikTok ban saga continues. The official date of the ban saw the app go dark in the US and Canada, replaced by a notice that the law had come into effect. However, only a few hours later, the app came back online, with a new notice that thanks to the Trump administration’s willingness to work on a deal, it would remain available to US consumers (for now).

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How Chloe Grace Moretz has created a virtuous circle for Amazon Prime Video and Twitch

Ben Woods

15 Dec 2022

Twitch

Amazon Prime Video

live streaming

In Amazon Prime’s sci-fi opus, The Peripheral , the actress Chloe Grace Moretz plays a virtual reality gamer who uses her skills to navigate the near future. It is a canny piece of casting considering Moretz is also a gamer in real life.

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Welcome to the Metaverse, where audience fragmentation reigns

Ben Woods

8 Dec 2022

metaverse

SVOD Services

Social video

In Ernest Cline’s dystopian novel Ready Player One , the metaverse unfurls as a virtual universe where choice over identity and experience are boundless. Such is the seamless experience of Cline’s ‘Oasis’ that it competes, and wins, when pitted against conventional reality.

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The Morbius flop demonstrates the importance of measuring sentiment, not just engagement

Hanna Kahlert

8 Jun 2022

morbius

Sony

its morbin time

The Marvel films franchise has been one of the most reliable box office attractions of the last decade. Thus, when the latest instalment, Morbius , was due to be released, expectations were high: the film was expected to gross around $33 million on its opening weekend, with some estimates as high as $40-50 million.

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YouTube could create a video and audio relationship to compete with music streaming platforms

Annie Langston

31 Mar 2022

YouTube

Audio

Podcasts

Audio content is most often created without visuals, with creators relying on their voice to engage listeners. However, as podcasting continues to develop, more platforms are looking for differentiated ways of appealing to audio creators and enriching their content.

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Chinese limits on gaming are more about the long-term, rather than short-term impacts

Karol Severin

31 Aug 2021

China

regulation

Audience engagement

A new regulation announced by the National Press and Publication Administration issues new rules around games engagement of under 18s. As reported by the Wall Street Journal, the new rules will allow no online video games to be played during the school week, and only permits one hour of play per day on Fridays, weekends and public holidays.

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Hip hop fandom is driving the music business' future in gaming, live streaming and beyond

Kriss Thakrar

17 Aug 2021

Fortnite

Fandom

Gaming

The music industry is at a pivot point as new ways of interacting and monetising music arise with unprecedented speed. Kanye West’s Donda live stream generating $7 million in merch sales demonstrates the financial scalability of a unique live stream event that cannot be replicated in the on-demand era.

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European Professional Club Rugby goes OTT, pressing business over the needs of fans

Alistair Taylor

23 Sep 2020

EPCR

European Professional Club Rugby

OTT

Last Friday , European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR), the Heineken Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup’s governing body announced the launch of its global over-the-top (OTT) streaming service, epcrugby.

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Can the NBA Capture the ‘Cord-Nevers’?

Alistair Taylor

8 Mar 2019

Audience engagement

cable providers

Clippers CourtVision

NBA commissioner Adam Silver, speaking at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference in Boston last week, explained his vision of the league’s games, which will look “dramatically different” in five years’ time.

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Fail Fast, Fail Early – Can Eleven’s UK Struggle Aid Future Growth?

Alistair Taylor

21 Feb 2019

Allsvenskan

altice

Amazon Fire Stick

Eleven Sports announced last week it had successfully agreed long-term distribution agreements with all four TV operators in Portugal – Altice, NOS, Nowo and Vodafone. Achieving this agreement puts Eleven Sports on TV platforms across 3.

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