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Blog: Content

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, audio and social.

Creators are taking on the big screen – and they’re ripping up the rulebook

Hannah Walker

13 Nov 2026

Fandom Creators Content

Amelia Dimoldenberg’s Chicken Shop Date is reaching its final series after a twelve-year run. When it launched in 2014, it was a trailblazer. Rejected by traditional broadcasters, the show consisted of ten-minute, humour-led episodes that felt more at home on YouTube than they would in traditional...

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From creator to capitalist: The creator economy is investing in itself

Hannah Walker

21 Oct 2026

Business Strategy Creators Creator economy

The most successful creators no longer look like online personalities. They now operate as fully-fledged media businesses with capital, networks, and business expertise – and they’re using these attributes to help nurture the next generation.

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First they laugh, then they follow: Comedy’s vertical TV opportunity

Hannah Walker

14 Oct 2026

Business Strategy Audience Insight Social media

With its skits, anecdotes, and punchlines, comedy lends itself well to short-form video. Now that streaming services have built the vertical feed infrastructure, they can leverage original, premium, short-form comedy to draw in new audiences for vertical TV.

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From newsroom to newsfeed: Why news broadcasters and content creators should partner to reach young people

Hannah Walker

7 Oct 2026

Business Strategy Fandom Social media

As the attention economy fractures traditional media consumption habits, Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) risk losing reach among young viewers. According to Ofcom , three-quarters of 16–24-year-olds report that they get their news from social media platforms.

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To understand where AI will go, look at where it came from

Mark Mulligan

30 Sep 2026

Clients only

Letter from the MD consumer Creators Content

AI, in its widest sense, is a massive unknown. While whistleblowers claim it is already out of control, others suggest this is AI company scaremongering to help justify their huge valuations. Both can be true.

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Could YouTube be a new home for TV talent?

Hannah Walker

23 Sep 2026

Product Strategy YouTube Creators

The power dynamic between media personalities and media distributors is shifting – a change that has picked up pace over the last few years. Traditional media companies are cautiously opening their doors to creator talent, recognising them for the lucrative opportunity that they represent.

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Threads versus X: Algorithmic USP and the benefits of a cross-platform offering

Hanna Kahlert

22 Sep 2026

Business Strategy Social media Creators

In a September interview with Sources , Mark Zuckerberg dropped the finding that Threads is as big – or at least closing in on – X, the platform it was designed to compete with. The platforms’ respective monthly active user reported numbers are 550 million for X, as of May 2026, and 500 millio...

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The creator investor: a compelling alternative to the creator product line

Hannah Walker

17 Sep 2026

Business Strategy Product Strategy Creators

The most successful creators are not just creative storytellers – they’re commercially minded entrepreneurs. The most sophisticated operators in this field recognise that launching their own product lines can be a lucrative and reliable revenue stream.

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How Meta’s biggest legal battle yet could redefine social media

Hanna Kahlert

26 Aug 2026

Business Strategy Social media Social

Meta may soon be forced to change its platforms, which will hold consequences for social media’s future. As of August 2026, a coalition of 29 US states is going to court with Meta in California, alleging a breach of several consumer protection statutes.

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Disney+ partners with TikTok: Can streaming stay relevant in the short-form era?

Hanna Kahlert

12 Aug 2026

Business Strategy TikTok Social media

In a shift from its traditionally close-fisted stance to IP, Disney has announced a partnership program with TikTok that will bring creator-made, short-form content to Disney+. This comes on the heels of Disney+’s Verts feed in March 2026 and an agreement earlier in the year to license over 200 ch...

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“Seems like AI slop”: Is LinkedIn leading the shift towards authentic content?

Hanna Kahlert

6 Aug 2026

Product Strategy Social media Social

Since ChatGPT first launched in November of 2022, AI-generated and augmented content has flooded social platforms. Initially lauded as a new tool to superpower creators and marketers alike, AI has instead exacerbated a pre-existing problem: an overwhelming amount of content that has left everyone st...

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What it takes to make a music streaming subscriber switch services

Tatiana Cirisano

30 Jul 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

For years, choosing a music streaming service was perhaps less of a decision than an accident. At least in Western markets, the major DSPs have offered similar catalogue, feature sets, and user interfaces, giving consumers little reason to choose one over another.

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Niche is the new mainstream: Marketing in an AI-saturated social landscape

Hanna Kahlert

22 Jul 2026

TikTok Instagram Social media

Social feeds are saturated with content – both original and AI-powered. In this competitive attention landscape, brand activations and traditional advertising are struggling to cut through. Simply getting a brand name out in the market is no longer enough to build loyalty.

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Social media first principles: What it takes to go beyond the algorithm

Hanna Kahlert

8 Jul 2026

Business Strategy Social media Creators

The formula for success on social platforms changes regularly, much to the frustration of emerging creators and marketers alike. This is a natural consequence of content saturation. The moment the code gets cracked and everyone follows the same rulebook, that rulebook stops delivering anything that ...

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Vertical TV is more than streaming’s TikTok moment

Ben Woods

10 Jun 2026

Product Strategy TikTok Streaming

Streaming TV services are entering a new phase of smartphone competition. For years, their strategic focus has been on content depth: exclusive shows, premium originals, and sports rights. Yet on mobile, the battle for engagement is increasingly shaped by experience as much as content.

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The renewed value of maximalism in the era of AI

Laura Fisher

3 Jun 2026

Product Strategy Creators Entertainment

The infrastructure of entertainment consumption has never felt more feudalistic. Distribution, discovery, and monetisation increasingly operate through a small number of platforms that shape how audiences find, consume, and pay for content.

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Clipping campaigns: marketing’s next move in a fragmented attention economy

Hanna Kahlert

27 May 2026

Social media Social Content

In early May 2026, New York Magazine and The Verge published articles outing the secret sauce of marketing in the social video era: clipping campaigns. In summary, thousands of accounts across social media are mobilised – through formal companies like Floodify or through informal networks on Disco...

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The three challenges YouTube must overcome to become TV

Ben Woods

13 May 2026

Business Strategy YouTube Streaming

YouTube’s case to be classed as TV in the eyes of advertisers is not bulletproof. TV advertising does not just buy reach and premium content. It buys into a regulated ecosystem built around measurement standards, brand safety, discoverability rules, and public-service obligations.

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Is AI the biggest threat to social platforms?

Hanna Kahlert

12 May 2026

Business Strategy Social media Social

Social media is becoming less social. You may have noticed this in your own life, as the endless scroll of short-form video becomes default. Users are more likely to turn to ‘social’ platforms for entertainment than to communicate with friends, according to MIDiA’s quarterly consumer survey .

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From answers to influence: How AI is reshaping social platforms’ role in search

Ben Woods

5 May 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Creators Content

AI is not only disrupting search engines but dismantling the way people search across the internet. MIDiA’s Q3 2025 consumer survey reveals that 52% of those who reported using generative AI leveraged these tools to find information.

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