Blog: Business Strategy - Page 12

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.

What Netflix needs to do next

Tim Mulligan

25 Oct 2023

Netflix Video Business Strategy

Netflix’s Q3 2023 numbers were better than expected, with quarterly revenue up by 7.8% year on year to reach $8.5 billion, and operating margin now up to an impressive 22.4%. The company attributed its revenue growth to three areas: firstly, an increase in average paid memberships, which is due to...

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There are no elite artists without elite artist development

Kriss Thakrar

24 Oct 2023

artist development Creators Creator economy

A recent interview with Mariah the Scientist saw her speak about the struggle of performing for only the second time in front of a crowd at one of the world’s biggest festivals, Rolling Loud. She shared that she “wasn’t good at it”, “did not know what she was doing”, and ultimately suffe...

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Two-tier licensing is about to become a reality

Mark Mulligan

24 Oct 2023

Streaming Spotify Streaming Royalties

With the dust still far from settled on the UMG / Deezer streaming royalty proposal, something even bigger is coming: Spotify is turning the concept into reality in Q1 2024. The behind-the-scenes conversations have been ongoing for some time, but the details were stated publicly on panels at last we...

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Can subscriptions keep the lights on for social?

Hanna Kahlert

19 Oct 2023

Social user-generated content creator tools

Digital advertising has long been the financial backbone of the digital world. It has underpinned the business models of the likes of Google and Meta, and its absence has been the value proposition of subscriptions, which now dominate digital entertainment.

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How Taylor Swift has ushered in an era of direct distribution for media fusion

Tim Mulligan

19 Oct 2023

Taylor Swift Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour Concert Film amc theatres

Cinematic releases of music concerts are nothing new, with the likes of the Beatles Help! film of 1965 ushering in a new era of mass participation for global fanbases beyond the concert arena. When Covid shut down the live music scene in 2020-2021, there was a brief flurry of interest in delivering ...

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What music could gain from social platform subscriptions

Tatiana Cirisano

17 Oct 2023

TikTok Twitter Instagram

Last week, Epic Games’ comments about “low margins” in the creator economy prompted a burning question : What happens when consumer creations become more popular than the core content they draw from? Consumers increasingly express their fandom through creation, and we believe this will be one ...

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Music has become a ‘just-in-time’ economy

Mark Mulligan

16 Oct 2023

Just in time supply chains Music creators

The modern day economy is built upon ‘just-in-time’ supply chains. This framework has enabled the benefits of consumerism that we have come to enjoy, such as next day delivery, out of season foods on our shelves, and the digital devices we live our lives through.

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Are the ongoing layoffs in games indicative of a wider issue in the games industry?

Karol Severin

6 Oct 2023

Games industry games forecasts Games

The layoffs wildfire that struck the games industry at the start of 2023 does not seem to be stopping - the most recent being Epic Games last week. Firstly, on a personal level, it has been really sad and upsetting to see all these people being laid off in 2023 – especially when the reasons behind...

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Epic blames layoffs on low creator margins — what does that mean for the rest of entertainment?

Tatiana Cirisano

4 Oct 2023

Epic Games bytedance Content Creators

Increasingly, engaging with entertainment involves some form of creation — be it turning your life into a Wes Anderson film , making songs with Grimes’ vocals , or learning the choreography to your new favourite music video .

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Spotify’s audiobooks move is another brick in the audio wall

Mark Mulligan

4 Oct 2023

Audiobooks Spotify Podcasts

Streaming has come a long way since its days as a pure music service for super fans. Spotify’s announcement that it is making 15 monthly audiobook hours available to premium subscribers is simply the latest step in a journey that has seen streaming become the 21stcentury’s take on radio.

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Regulatory decisions around AI will shape the future of digital ecosystems

Hanna Kahlert

27 Sep 2023

AI regulation Social

Looking back, the Francis Haugen testimony spelled a turning point for social platforms. It represents a moment where they, and tech more generally, went from being able to ‘build fast and break things’ with no one really paying attention, to an environment where not only users were watching clo...

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Why investing in IRL entertainment is so important for Disney’s streaming future

Tim Mulligan

26 Sep 2023

Disney Theme Parks IRl

It appears that investors are losing confidence in Disney as the transition from linear TV to streaming TV moves into its final chapter. Last week, Disney saw its stock price fall after announcing that it was doubling its capital expenditures investmentin its parks, experiences, and products segment...

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Streaming’s problems will not be fixed by royalties alone

Mark Mulligan

15 Sep 2023

Streaming Music Music streaming Streaming Royalties

UMG and Deezer’s artist-centric royalty proposal got the amount of attention both parties probably wanted , if not necessarily the type of attention they were after. However, the intent was to kick start an industry debate, and that objective was clearly achieved.

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Unity’s pricing is a symptom, not the cause of tougher times ahead for the games industry

Karol Severin

14 Sep 2023

Unity game developers consolidation

Earlier this week, Unity announced that from 2024 it will start charging developers for the number of downloads / installs of their games. Developers unsurprisingly threw their proverbial toys out of the pram following the news.

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Niche is the way forward: DSP’s need function, not features

Hanna Kahlert

14 Sep 2023

dsp Streaming Creators

It has never been easier to become a music creator. But, it has arguably never been harder to remain one as a full-time career. There are a whole host of reasons behind this, not least of which is a streaming economy that has upended the role of music in the daily lives of audiences, and a host of c...

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Cannibalisation is inevitable for YouTube as the attention economy bites

Ben Woods

13 Sep 2023

Social video YouTube Shorts YouTube

When YouTube launched Shorts in 2021, the social video platform was knowingly risking de-stabilising its core business. The rationale behind launching a short-form video offer was that the risk of not doing so could mean haemorrhaging thousands, if not millions, of viewers to TikTok.

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As Sam Ryder cuts to the chase, the question is do all artists become indie?

Keith Jopling

7 Sep 2023

Streaming music industry Creator economy

Like everyone, I have a basket of core artists I am a dedicated fan of. But there is a wider group of artists I follow and am always intrigued about, both musically and in terms of their career trajectory.

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How to make artist centric artist centric

Mark Mulligan

6 Sep 2023

Streaming Royalties Music streaming Music Royalties

Deezer and UMG announced a major (in both senses of the word) shake up of streaming music royalties. This is arguably the biggest streaming market development in years, as it will set the tone for market-wide change.

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Misaligned incentives make the music business a zero-sum game

Tatiana Cirisano

17 Aug 2023

Record labels streaming services Music creators

“Pop Stars Aren’t Popping Like They Used To”, Billboard ’s Elias Leight writes in a recent article, in which record label executives stress over the struggle to break new artists. The article (or at least, the headline) stirred up a storm on Twitter — ahem, X — last week, where many user...

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Alex Cooper’s new podcast network questions her future at Spotify and fuels competition for creators

Annie Langston

16 Aug 2023

Alex Cooper Spotify Gen Z

Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper has launched her own podcast network. A subsidiary of Trending , the media company Cooper launched earlier this year, The Unwell Network is targeting Gen Z audiences. In addition to producing both scripted and unscripted podcasts, the network will also explore live eve...

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