Blog: Media - Page 10

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.

Quick Take: Why Amazon and Microsoft Are Joining Forces on Voice

Zach Fuller
Amazon
Apple
Facebook
Amazon and Microsoft have announced they will be collaborating around the Echo by allowing Microsoft’s Cortana service to be accessed through the voice control device. Whilst the move is not a direct merger between the company’s two respective voice assistants, it will now allow users commanding Cortana to open Alexa, meaning you will now be able to launch one of over 18,000 Alexa skills.
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If Amazon Swallows Retail, Could Facebook Do the Same with Media?

Zach Fuller
Amazon
amazon advertising
amazon media group
Former President and CEO of Netscape James L. Barksdale once said he knew of two ways to make money, ‘Bundling and Unbundling’. Whilst much of the focus has been on the unbundling factor of media, with consumers increasingly opting for more affordable SVOD services over cumbersome and expensive Pay-TV offerings, we could soon see another re-bundling factor occur.
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Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House: A Strategy Based on Extremes

Zach Fuller
Bertelsmann
BMG
harper collins
Having created a next-gen music publisher in BMG, German media giant Bertlesmann are applying a similar strategy to their publishing division. Consistent with BMG’s tactic of investing heavily in legacy music publishing assets as well as niche Indie labels, Bertlesmann are doubling down on their most valuable publishing asset by moving to acquire an increased stake in Penguin Random House.
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Quick Take: An Echo Sales Spike on Prime Day Is Another Win For Amazon’s Burgeoning Service Business

Zach Fuller
Amazon
Amazon Echo Dot
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Echo revenues have until now remained relativelysmall. With the device still available in just three markets (US, UK and Germany), its main victories have been in its cultural impact, as well as spurring other tech majors (Alphabet and Apple) into the market away from their focus on other technologies, namely Virtual Reality.
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Thoughts On Second-Order Effects For Content Discovery in Voice

Zach Fuller
Alexa
Amazon
Amazon Echo
Second-order effects are rarely considered when new technologies come to the fore and reach critical mass. For example, the realisation of smartphones, the emergence of Apple's app store and the ubiquity of Wi-Fi and cheap, effective data in mature digital markets means a service such as WhatsApp makes more immediate sense, but Uber and Snapchat are less obvious.
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Dalian Wanda’s Global Ambition Comes Up Against The Cold Logic Of Financial Reality

Tim Mulligan
AC Milan
AMC Theaters
Atletico Madrid
Last week Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda, which is controlled by China’s second wealthiest individual Wang Jialin, was placed under a regulatory probe by the China Banking Regulatory Commission . The powerful state regulator announced that it was looking into Dalian Wanda, along with Fosun International, HNA and Anbang, due to concerns about the systemic risk to the Chinese financial system for the overseas activities of these four disparate conglomerates.
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MIDiA at Midem 2017

Zach Fuller
7 digital
andy ng
benji rogers
MIDiA Research were one of thousands of delegates who arrived in Cannes this week to attend Midem; the annual conference addressing the latest developments in the music industry. Across 4 days of panels, here are three points we found most insightful: Still no consensus on streaming : Perhaps predictably, many of the event’s panels with regard to the recorded music business were geared towards streaming.
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Why the Voice Control Landscape Will Be So Competitive

Cover image for Why the Voice Control Landscape Will Be So Competitive
Zach Fuller
AI
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 (Manchester by-the-sea, American Gods) to drones, there appears to be a consensus that save for anti-trust legislation, Amazon will become the first $1 Trillion market cap company.
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Vivendi-Havas: A Music Industry Perspective

Zach Fuller
Access Industries
acquisition
dailymotion
After a quiet period in which music and media assets in general were perceived to be in irreversible decline, the narrative is suddenly changing. The boost in revenue from streaming and the allure of consistent income that comes with the transition to recurring subscription revenue seems to have provided new impetus to the investment landscape around music-focused media.
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New Report: Snap Inc Q1 2017 - Declining User Growth Exacerbates Rising Costs

Zach Fuller
advertising
Amazon
Daily Active users
Following the release of its first earnings call since its IPO in March, Snapchat creator Snap Inc has seen its stock price drop 28% to its lowest price since going public. The development increasingly reflects investor uncertainty as to whether the company will be able to continue following a period of intense competition from Facebook and a consequent slowdown in growth.
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Latest MIDiA Research Reports: An Overview

Cover image for Latest MIDiA Research Reports: An Overview
Mark Mulligan
2017
consumer insights
Digital
Throughout Q1 2017 MIDiA Research has taken a close look at the latest shifts, trends and consumer insights within the digital marketplace across the 4 key areas of Video, Media, Music and Games. MIDiA reports address market forecasts and growth patterns by coverage areas and our latest reports consist of development trends, competitive landscape analysis, and key developments.
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