Blog: Critical Developments

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 future lies beyond tech – a long(er) read

Cover image for The future lies beyond tech – a long(er) read
Hanna Kahlert
As entertainment companies start planning their next big steps for the coming year, the success and failure of their strategic decisions will hinge on one big, and perhaps surprising, existential question : is this it for the tech industry? Planning for 2023 seems to mean planning for disruption, and this is no easy thing to do – especially given the changes already wrought by the last three years of predominately virtual working.
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Welcome to the era of attention inflation

Cover image for Welcome to the era of attention inflation
Perry Gresham
The covid pandemic and associated lockdown dynamic allowed entertainment consumption to reach new heights amongst a temporary surplus of free time. However, after restrictions eased, consumers found the constraints on their newfound time tighten, and had to make sacrifices, often preferring to return to real life activities at the expense of digital entertainment.
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The Attention Recession: How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment

Cover image for The Attention Recession: How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment
Mark Mulligan
Netflix and Meta were the canaries in the proverbial mine for the attention recession and it is looking increasingly likely that difficult times lie ahead. If the attention crunch was not enough on its own, it has been compounded by the perfect storm of headwinds: the cost of living crisis, rising interest rates, energy and global grain supply constraints, and the Russo-Ukrainian war.
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Why Spotify and Netflix Need to Worry About a Global Recession

Mark Mulligan
A growing body of economists is becoming increasingly convinced that a global recession is edging closer. 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 gives us a baseline for what happens to consumer spending habits.
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Privacy Concerns and Digital Advertisers: Why Brands That Demand Attention Will Lose out in the Post-Peak Shift of the Attention Economy

Hanna Kahlert
Mid-2019 sees the digital market mid-quagmire. The saturation of the attention economy is driving further and further competition between brands to create propositions that can stand out enough to earn adoption, in a market where overwhelming choice vastly outweighs the total adoption potential of consumers.
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