Blog: Business Strategy - Page 35

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.

Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) – September 16th 2019

Mark Mulligan

16 Sep 2019

Take Five Business Strategy

Spotify – small step, big step: Spotify has announced that it is acquiring musician marketplace company Soundbetter.Back in July, Spotify halted its artist direct offering. Some quarters viewed that as the end of Spotify’s disruptive label-competitor strategy.

Cover image for Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) – September 16th 2019

Arcade plays to Apple’s strengths and everyone else’s weaknesses

Karol Severin

11 Sep 2019

Apple Arcade games subscriptions Gaming

Apple has revealed more detail about its upcoming Arcade. For $4.99 per month, users will have the ability to download and play 100+ exclusive games across Apple devices. While Apple is positioned as a ‘download and play’ proposition, the reality is it will compete against games streaming as wel...

Cover image for Arcade plays to Apple’s strengths and everyone else’s weaknesses

The rationale behind Apple TV+’s debut pricing

Tim Mulligan

11 Sep 2019

AppleTV+ SVOD Video

Yesterday, (September 10th 2019), Apple announced both a launch date and new pricing for its video subscription service Apple TV+. This follows on from the March Showtime event where Apple rolled out the Apple TV+ brand and the big names it has engaged to build out a premium video content offering.

Cover image for The rationale behind Apple TV+’s debut pricing

Songwriters aren’t getting paid enough – here’s why

Mark Mulligan

10 Sep 2019

songwriters Streaming Royalties Music streaming

Editors note: Since this blog was first published, MIDiA has expanded its research into the challenges facing songwriters in the current music industry landscape. Find out more here . Music Business Worldwide recentlyran a storyon how Apple has proposed a standard streaming rate for songwriters, wit...

Streaming in Southeast Asia: Challenges and opportunities for international competitors

Amanda Stears

10 Sep 2019

asia pacific Southeast Asia streaming services

With a combined population of 371.7 million and a combined GDP of $2.9 trillion, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia represent sizeable and fast-growing markets for streaming services. The largest players by subscriptions are Netflix, iflix and Viu, with each competing and differentiating through their...

Cover image for Streaming in Southeast Asia: Challenges and opportunities for international competitors

Netflix’s binge-watching problem

Tim Mulligan

9 Sep 2019

Binge-watching Neflix Video

Netflix has announced that it is going to start releasing new episodes of The Great British Bake Off and reality series Rhythm + Flow on aweekly basis (via Polygon ). For a company which de-facto created the phenomenon of binge-viewing, this decision brings it more into line with current market tren...

Cover image for Netflix’s binge-watching problem

Does Disney+ make Disney recession-proof?

Tim Mulligan

5 Sep 2019

Disney Disney+ Business Strategy

The storm clouds of recession continue to spread across the world. In the US, the inversion of the treasury bond yield which occurred in March of this year has meant that financial asset allocators are now prepared to pay more for less as they bid up the price of long-term government debt issuance.

Cover image for Does Disney+ make Disney recession-proof?

Quick take: Spotify expands premium duo into Latin America

Zach Fuller

5 Sep 2019

Music streaming Spotify Critical Developments

Spotify has announced that its Premium Duo plan will be expanding to another 17 countries, 14 of which are in Latin America. The plan, which is effectively a mini version of its popular family offering, has been created with the express intention of servicing couples who reside at the same home addr...

Starz to increase brand presence with AT&T carriage deal

Amanda Stears

3 Sep 2019

Pay TV Starz Media and Marketing

On August 30, AT&T announced a multi-year content carriage deal with Starz, allowing AT&T to offer STARZ content to its customers. This content deal includes STARZ and STARZ ENCORE premium linear and HD channels, On-Demand, HD On-Demand and online services.

YouTube returns to its roots by making originals free

Amanda Stears

30 Aug 2019

AVOD Video subscriptions YouTube

YouTube is shifting its original programming strategy by lifting the paywall for all of its original content. Since the rebranding of YouTube Premium in 2018, viewers can opt to pay for a monthly subscription fee of $11.

Cover image for YouTube returns to its roots by making originals free

Yao Ming 2.0: NBA and House of Mouse – Who needs who more?

Alistair Taylor

30 Aug 2019

Media and Marketing Sports Disney

Disney’s Q2 quarterly results illustrate the growing importance of its direct to consumer (D2C) streaming offering. With the launch of Disney+ coming up on November 12, Disney looks set to take on streaming incumbent Netflix both domestically and internationally by presenting a unique opportunity ...

Cover image for Yao Ming 2.0: NBA and House of Mouse – Who needs who more?

Hasbro and the lure of Peppa Pig

Tim Mulligan

29 Aug 2019

Hasbro Netflix Peppa Pig

The decision by US toy company Hasbro’s decision to acquire UK-listed Entertainment One shines a light on the content land grab currently underway in the wake of thedirect-to-consumer big bang moment of 2019.

Cover image for Hasbro and the lure of Peppa Pig

Streaming needs to worry about a global recession – but perhaps not as much as cable

Hanna Kahlert

27 Aug 2019

cultural insight Media Streaming

Last week MIDiA’s Mark Mulligan overviewed how, in a recession, discretionary expenditures are the first to be cut. Given the non-obligatory nature of subscriptions and the contractual shackles of cable, services like Netflix and Spotify would likely lose out quickly as consumers rush to minimise ...

Anyone order latency? Mediaset falls at the first hurdle

Alistair Taylor

23 Aug 2019

Strategy telco Media and Marketing

Mediaset’s newly launched Spanish subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, MiTele Plus, has suffered a succession of technical issues during the debut stream of its domestic La Liga coverage. Latency issues and Smart TV distribution plagued the streaming services broadcast, with complaints gal...

Why Spotify and Netflix need to worry about a global recession

Mark Mulligan

23 Aug 2019

economic downturn global recession Media

A growing body of economists is becoming increasingly convinced thata global recession is edging closer (per CNN ).The last time we experienced a global economic downturn was the 2008 credit crunch. Although the coming recession will likely be a bigger shock to the global economy, it nonetheless giv...

What happens when Tencent owns 10% of UMG?

Zach Fuller

22 Aug 2019

Innovation umg music industry

To sound like a broken record, things are about to get difficult for Spotify. To the company’s credit, since its launch a decade ago rumours of its demise have always been greatly exaggerated, with the company regularly proving sceptics wrong through its ability to consistently retain the largest ...

Quick Take: This is how much TV show brands are diverging between linear and streaming

Karol Severin

20 Aug 2019

index Media Strategy

Looking at streaming numbers against total viewership and brand awareness reveals some stark differences between streaming and traditional pay-TV. The fact that a TV show can now be in the top five most streamed of the quarter, and simultaneously not even reach the top 100 in terms of brand awarenes...

Cover image for Quick Take: This is how much TV show brands are diverging between linear and streaming

CBS, Viacom, and media mergers: Is it different this time?

Zach Fuller

15 Aug 2019

CBS Disney Media

Media mergers have a storied history, and one that is often not too positive. Whether it is Time Warner or AOL, talk of synergies often fades when confronted with consumer appetite – but at the risk of sounding like a broken record, perhaps it is worth considering how this time it may be different.

Podcasts are capturing children's attention

Amanda Stears

14 Aug 2019

Podcasts Audio audio strategy

With Disney’s latest announcement of a bundle deal for Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, the video streaming landscape just got more intensely competitive for both consumers and content providers alike. For OTT providers, the ability to retain customers has become just as vital as acquiring new users – N...

Cover image for Podcasts are capturing children's attention

Take Five (The big five stories and data you need to know)

Mark Mulligan

12 Aug 2019

Take Five Business Strategy

Apple ups its artist analytics but do artists care? Kobalt and Spotify both helped reshape the music industry’s understanding of what role data should play and how it should be presented. Apple announced its Apple Music for Artists (AMFA) is coming out of beta with a whole host of cool dashboards ...

Cover image for Take Five (The big five stories and data you need to know)

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.