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.

Return of the fan: COVID-19 thwarts fan pilot sporting events amid regional spikes in cases

Cover image for Return of the fan: COVID-19 thwarts fan pilot sporting events amid regional spikes in cases
Alistair Taylor
Just when sports fans thought it was safe to go back into the water, COVID reared its ugly head once more. UK fan pilot sporting events were all set to start allowing fans back into arenas and attend live events, but government restrictions have now been re-imposed to limit the spread of coronavirus, crippling any chances of normality resuming in the near-term.
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Has live streaming suddenly become music's primary format (and artist revenue stream)?

Cover image for Has live streaming suddenly become music's primary format (and artist revenue stream)?
Keith Jopling
It seems like the longer Covid 19 hangs around, the more desperate the live music business starts to sound. In a telling recent interview with Bob Lefsetz, Marc Geiger made his view clear that not next year but 2022 will be the year the live music business can truly come back to life ‘as normal’ (and, given pent-up demand by then, possibly bigger than ever for the venues and promoters still on the scene).
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Reach for the win: BT Sport to air UEFA Champions League final on YouTube

Cover image for Reach for the win: BT Sport to air UEFA Champions League final on YouTube
Alistair Taylor
UK pay-TV incumbent BT Sport has announced it will air this year’s (COVID-delayed) UEFA Champions League (UCL) final free-to-air (FTA) on Google-owned YouTube. YouTube’s head of sport in EMEA, Tomos Grace confirmed the move with SportsPro Media :“BT Sport have been amazing partners for YouTube and we’re very privileged to be working with them.
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Recovery Economics: What the post-lockdown world looks like for TV

Cover image for Recovery Economics: What the post-lockdown world looks like for TV
Tim Mulligan
As the quarter of the world that experienced the COVID-19 lockdowns start to fitfully open up again, the realisation that the world has irrevocably changed is starting to settle in. With the highly contagious virus still causing secondary waves of infection in multiple countries, the need to plan for a COVID-compliant future in TV production is now becoming paramount.
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Netflix Q2 2020 earnings: Lockdown revenue windfall but performance expected to fall

Cover image for Netflix Q2 2020 earnings: Lockdown revenue windfall but performance expected to fall
Tim Mulligan
H1 2020 has been particularly good for Netflix. Q1 2020 saw record subscriber growth of 27.8 million net additions and its original content has dominated viewer interest over the previous six months. The current top three most-viewed Wikipedia TV show pages are all Netflix originals, with D2C challenger Peacock’s Brave New World coming in at fourthplace (Source MIDiA Index ).
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