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.

Snapchat’s Re-Design Is Likely Too Little Too Late

Zach Fuller
Having promised a ‘whole new Snapchat’, it appears the app’s mooted re-design is not the revolution Evan Spiegel proposed during his company’s Q3 earnings call. The company’s founder stated that: “While blurring the lines between professional content creators and your friends has been an interesting Internet experiment, it has also produced some strange side-effects (like fake news) and made us feel like we have to perform for our friends rather than just express ourselves.
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With Amazon's Black Friday in Full Swing, What Would Marshall McLuhan Think of Voice Control?

Zach Fuller
AsBlack Friday kicks into gear throughout the US, Amazon has been quick to adopt the occasion as an opportune event for getting more Echo devices into Prime customer households. MIDiA has been writing a lot the past year on implications of voice technology, and it got me thinking about what one of the most noted voices in media criticism in the 20th century would have thought of the device and its consequences.
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Has The SVOD Killer Arrived?

Tim Mulligan
In 2014 ESPN had 95 million subscribers and its $10.8 billion in revenues accounted for 25.7% of Walt Disney Co’s $40.2 billion revenue. In 2015, ESPN lost three million subscribers and this 3% decline in subscriptions and the historic operating margins of 40-45% for cable and satellite, underpinned by ESPN’s trophy-like exclusivity on premium live sports events, were suddenly at risk.
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Despicable Me 3 and Hollywood’s Shift Towards International Film Franchises

Cover image for Despicable Me 3 and Hollywood’s Shift Towards International Film Franchises
Tim Mulligan
The forthcoming digital release of Despicable Me 3, timed to coincide with the Thanksgiving holiday is a reminder of the tectonic plates currently underway in the movie industry. Long used to a US-centric view of the world, Hollywood has, in recent years, become increasingly aware of the revenue opportunities in the wider world beyond the US borders.
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Tencent Can’t Lose With Its 12% Stake Purchase in Snap Inc

Zach Fuller
As tech’s big players continued to rollout their Q3 earnings reports, one of the most startling revelations was quietly embedded within Snap Inc’s stock ownership. The section read: In November 2017, Tencent Holdings Limited notified us that it, together with its affiliates, acquired 145,778,246 shares of our non-voting Class A common stock via open market purchases.
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Quick Take: Big Tech’s Q3 Earnings Have Big Implications for Media

Zach Fuller
With US listed public companies’ quarterly earnings currently being drip-fed to Wall Street, here are two of the implications for Media and Advertising entities from Tech’s Big Four Q3 earnings: Amazon’s Media Presence is Continuing to Grow: While Amazon did not break out its specific numbers around the nascent advertising and media group aspects of its business, its revenue defined as other, is alongside its emerging subscription revenue (Prime, Amazon Video etc), is the fastest growing element of the Amazon ecosystem.
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