Blog: China

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 HYBE expanding into China is a bigger deal than you think

Olivia Jones

17 Jun 2025

Business Strategy Music streaming Fandom

Korean and Chinese labels have been a hot topic in the news lately. First, HYBE sold its entire 9.38% stake in fellow South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment to Chinese music streaming giant Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) for approximately $177 million USD (per Music Business Worldwid...

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Chaos and uncertainty: Tariffs’ impact on gamers and the games market

Rhys Elliott

10 Apr 2025

Business Strategy Subscriptions Games

Tariff turmoil related to the US’ trade war is intensifying. Other countries have retaliated, and while Trump has eased tariffs in some countries, the situation is far from being resolved. The tariffs have major implications for the games market in the US.

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DeepSeek and Rednote signal the dawning era of APAC

Hanna Kahlert

29 Jan 2025

Business Strategy Netflix TikTok

The AI race is a tense one. Billions of dollars have been poured into the likes of OpenAI. Meanwhile, the US and UK governments, among others, have pledged to invest heavily in AI development, suggesting that they feel it is of critical importance to “win” the new space race.

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Quick Take: Regulation and war are leading the global games industry's trajectory to diverge

Karol Severin

11 Mar 2022

regulation Russia China

Over the last few years, the traditional unit sales-based model in games has been increasingly moving towards engagement-led models. In other words, we are moving away from costly price points to buy complete games – instead the industry is turning towards a set-up, where access to games is more c...

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Quick take: Another blow for Epic Games as Fortnite shuts down in China

Karol Severin

4 Nov 2021

Fortnite Epic Games regulation

It has not been the best year for Fortnite. Following the fiasco with its Apple lawsuit, as well as year on year consumer penetration having declined , the Fortnite maker announced that it is shutting down its Chinese version of Fortnite, Fortress Night.

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Axing exclusive music licenses in China will drive new local music cultures

Srishti Das

15 Sep 2021

China emerging markets Tencent

As a result of the new guidelines set out by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), record labels are no longer allowed to issue exclusive licenses to music services. Previously, music services in China were able to secure exclusive deals with record labels which meant that these services cou...

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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...

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Just what is Tencent’s Endgame?

Mark Mulligan

16 Jun 2020

Tencent Tencent Music China

Tencent’s combined $200 million investment in WMG follows on the heels of its $3.6 billion joint investment in Universal Music. It is hardly Tencent’s first investments in music, having spent $6.2 billion on music investments since 2016.

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Music Streaming Needs a New Future

Mark Mulligan

12 Jun 2020

Alibaba China Fandom

While doing some research on the Chinese streaming market I came across this fantastic UX tear down of Xiami Music . I recommend you read it in full. The day before I found this–also must-read–article on Beyoncé’s streaming strategy ,which explains how she uses different platforms to segment ...

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10 Trends That Will Reshape the Music Industry

Mark Mulligan

3 Apr 2019

23 capital albums Amuse

The IFPI has reported that global recorded music revenues have hit $19.1 billion, which means that MIDiA’sownestimatespublished in Marchwere within 1.6% of the actual results . This revenue growth story is strong and sustained but the market itself is undergoing dramatic change.

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Japan Should Look to China for Future Streaming Growth

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2019

China china streaming market Japan

Japan is the world’s second largest recorded music market and accounts for 14% of the global total. However, Japan is not following the wider market path of surging streaming revenues driving overall market growth.

Google, Facebook, And The Coming Big Tech Disruption

Tim Mulligan

12 Dec 2018

Alphabet China Facebook

2018 has turned out to be the year in which the seemingly invulnerable tech majors started to come unstuck. So far, Facebook has fallen the furthest in both the eyes of regulators and the general public upon whom it depends for multi-billion revenues.

The Fan Bingbing Story and What it Means for China’s 2018 Video Transformation

Tim Mulligan

11 Oct 2018

China Chinese box office Fan Bingbing

China has come a long way in short time in video. Going hand in hand with the dramatic economic expansion the Country has experienced, China’s domestic box office alone increased 19-fold between 2007 and 2017 to an estimated $8.

Looking for the Music in Tencent Music

Mark Mulligan

5 Oct 2018

China KuGou Kuwo

The Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) F1 filing makes for highly interesting reading, but don’t expect copious amounts of data to give you an inside track in the way that Spotify’s F1 filing did. Instead TME’s F1 bears much closer resemblance to iQyi’s F1, namely a basic level of KPIs, lots ...

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Emerging Music Markets: Streaming’s Third Wave

Mark Mulligan

10 Aug 2018

baidu music China emerging markets

MIDiA has just published a new report that deep dives into how streaming is, or in some cases is not, lifting off in emerging markets. The regions we focused on were Russia, the Middle East, sub-Saharan Africa, China and India.

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How Tencent is Successfully Monetising a Messaging App Ecosystem

Alistair Taylor

6 Jul 2018

China digital content Facebook

Chinese tech giant Tencent, the company that 12 months ago you probably were not paying attention to, is now the second largest messaging app ecosystem globally, behind Facebook. Tencent is the only company currently monetising its digital consumer base effectively.

Tencent 2018: Is Tencent Now a Mature Business?

Alistair Taylor

15 May 2018

advertising ARPU China

With Tencent making headlines for its recent round of high-profile media investments in Spotify and Skydance Media, alongside recent concerns stemming from the Q4 2017 earnings released in March, investors are waiting with baited breath for the Q1 2018 earnings due on May 16.

Does Tencent Hold The Key To The Future Of Media Distribution?

Tim Mulligan

3 May 2018

China LINE Messaging apps

The digital foundations of premium video are undergoing profound transformation. Firstly, traditional TV programming and feature films are becoming decoupled from their original distribution technologies and repositioned as premium video content for digital services.

Just What Is Tencent Up To With Streaming?

Mark Mulligan

28 Feb 2018

Anghami China Gaana

Tencent is building a global streaming empire. Back in December 2017 Tencent Music did a 10% equity swap deal with Spotify and now it has led a $115 million investment round for India-based streaming service Gaana.

Is QQ Music Worth $10 Billion?

Mark Mulligan

7 Sep 2017

China Deezer IPO

Western appetite for the Chinese market has long been based upon accessing the 1.4 billion consumers. This has in turn impacted valuations of Chinese companies, particularly when eager western investors are involved.

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