Blog: echo

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

Hanna Kahlert

14 Dec 2022

metaverse

NFTs

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...

min read

Ellie Goulding and Billie Eilish Are Streaming’s New Normal

Mark Mulligan

3 Jan 2020

Alexa

Billie Eilish

Christmas number one

Less than a week into the new decade and we already have the first indications that the streaming rulebook continues to be rewritten faster than the ink can dry on its last entry. Three separate articles,...

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Have We Reached Peak Tech?

Mark Mulligan

27 Sep 2019

Alexa

disruption

dot com

In last week’s Take Five I highlighted a Vox story which reported that over the last year the number of companies using terms like ‘tech’ or technology’ in their documents is down 12%. This is...

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Ecommerce Wars – Can Instagram’s Shop Window and Check-Out All-in-One Compete with Amazon’s Own Brand Ambitions and Voice?

Georgia Meyer

3 Apr 2019

Conquesting Ads

echo

ecommerce

Commerce has moved online. In this rapidly evolving space, the dynamics of which govern the fortunes of so many businesses and brands, Amazon, Walmart and Instagram are playing their hands fiercely. Their...

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Thoughts on Spotify’s Acquisition of Gimlet Media and Anchor

Zach Fuller

6 Feb 2019

Amazon Alexa

Anchor

apple homepod

Spotify is reported to have purchased the podcast companies Gimlet Media and Anchor. Having only just reported an operating profit for the first time, the deals demonstrate not only how Spotify is still...

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Walled Gardens: How Does Amazon and Google’s Approach Compare to Apple’s?

Zach Fuller

22 Jan 2018

Amazon

consumer electronics

echo

Having begun to embed itself within popular consciousness throughout 2017, voice control is poised to extend its influence and usher in the latest hardware paradigm shift in tech. What is important to...

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Sonos @ 15

Mark Mulligan

8 Sep 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Echo

Sonos, granddaddy of the connected home audio marketplace, is now 15 years old. Sonos was a pioneer that was so far ahead of its time, it inadvertently found itself as one of the key early drivers of streaming...

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Quick Take: Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition Is A Major Coup For Voice Control Commerce

Zach Fuller

16 Jun 2017

acquisition

Alexa

Amazon

In the hours following the announcement of Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of American supermarket chain Whole Foods, much of the immediate attention is currently focused on how the e-commerce giant...

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Announcing MIDiA’s State Of The Streaming Nation 2 Report

Mark Mulligan

5 Jun 2017

7Digital

Alibaba

Amazon

2016 was the year that streaming turned the recorded music business into a good news story, with revenue growth so strong that it drove nearly a billion dollars of total growth. Leading streaming services...

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Why the Voice Control Landscape Will Be So Competitive

Zach Fuller

26 May 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Withthe success of Prime and the Echo, Amazon at present is experiencing the same halo effect that graced Microsoft in the 90s and Apple in the 00s. Withtheir finger on the pulse of everything from entertainment...

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Amazon Double Down on Voice Control by Announcing Echo Show

Zach Fuller

9 May 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Echo

Amazon is doubling down on Echo’s success (60% growth rate since November 2016) by just announcing the Echo Show. A visual iteration on the Echo, the device is priced at $229.99 and will initially only...

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Will Amazon’s Lex Platform Be the New App-Store?

Zach Fuller

21 Apr 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Prime Video

Swiftly following the success of the Echo, Amazon have announced their Lex platform is now open to 3rd party developers, allowing them to create and monetise chat-bots, further embellishing the device....

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Quick Take: Amazon Music Unlimited Comes To The UK

Mark Mulligan

14 Nov 2016

Amazon

Amazon Echo

amazon music unlimited

Amazon announced the anticipated launch of Amazon Music Unlimited in the UK today. For my full take on Amazon Music Unlimited see my previous post here. Make no mistake, Amazon are taking this launch seriously,...

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Has Snapchat Learned From Twitter’s IPO?

Zach Fuller

14 Oct 2016

Amazon

augmented reality

echo

Snap Inc, the parent company of messaging app Snapchat, have hired Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley for a seemingly imminent IPO. In addition to being one of the first app generation unicorns (alongside...

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