Blog: News

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.

What happens to entertainment in a gamified US economy?

Cover image for What happens to entertainment in a gamified US economy?

Hanna Kahlert

15 Apr 2025

Cultural trends

Key takeaways from this blog: President Trump'sproposed tariffshave shaken the stock market, with trust in the US economy weakening Unpredictable policies, including the US TikTok ban, are making conditions difficult for businesses that operate across multiple countries With this uncertainty in the US, the world is looking towards rising markets for stability, growth, and new opportunities News in the second week of April 2025 has been dominated by tariffs and the impacted US stock market.

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Bootlegging is the scourge of many industries. Could it be music’s greatest strength?

Cover image for Bootlegging is the scourge of many industries. Could it be music’s greatest strength?

Tatiana Cirisano

7 Feb 2025

The word “bootleg” has long left a bad taste in brands’ mouths. Quite literally defined as “illicit goods,” these unauthorised versions or replications of clothes, handbags, concert tees, and other items have long plagued brands.

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Ban or no ban, what comes next for TikTok creators?

Cover image for Ban or no ban, what comes next for TikTok creators?

Hanna Kahlert

22 Jan 2025

Marketing Strategy

The TikTok ban saga continues. The official date of the ban saw the app go dark in the US and Canada, replaced by a notice that the law had come into effect. However, only a few hours later, the app came back online, with a new notice that thanks to the Trump administration’s willingness to work on a deal, it would remain available to US consumers (for now).

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Meta pushes for “free speech” as TikTok falls short: a dramatic cultural shift for social

Cover image for Meta pushes for “free speech” as TikTok falls short: a dramatic cultural shift for social

Hanna Kahlert

15 Jan 2025

Business Strategy

The news cycle leaves no room to draw breath as strategic pivots and Supreme Court hearings come thick and fast. Changes are afoot – and they paint a very different picture of the digital landscape of the future.

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The BlueSky migration: How cultural shifts can disrupt even the most established social media platforms

Cover image for The BlueSky migration: How cultural shifts can disrupt even the most established social media platforms

Hanna Kahlert

19 Nov 2024

Twitter clones have proliferated since Elon Musk first bought and renamed the platform to X in 2022. Despite a lot of buzz around platforms like Mastodon and BlueSky, none have seemed to capture a significant audience, with X’s weekly active usage remaining consistent.

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Podcasts are creating a new era of news

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Annie Langston

28 Jul 2022

Podcasts are becoming a brand extension for every level of public figure, even those who have been shut out or disgraced elsewhere. After being fired from their network positions for allegedly violating journalistic ethics, two former news anchors — Chris Cuomo and Keith Olbermann — are each starting their own news podcasts.

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Social media has become the default news platform for digital natives (for better and / or worse)

Cover image for Social media has become the default news platform for digital natives (for better and / or worse)

Hanna Kahlert

2 Mar 2022

The tragic turn of events last week in Ukraine have shaken Europe and the world. People are frightened, politicians are tense, markets are volatile , and no one knows what will come next. However, as news has emerged of the situation, an interesting phenomenon has become clear: while robust reporting may be difficult to come by, and official communication lines are intermittently down , digital natives are keeping tabs on the situation through social media.

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ABC’s local news commitment adds to the building momentum of news streaming

Cover image for ABC’s local news commitment adds to the building momentum of news streaming

Tim Mulligan

1 Feb 2022

ABC, a US broadcast subsidiary of Disney, is launching new live local news streaming channels from its existing broadcast station in a number of major local markets within the US. The new channels range from ABC7 New York to ABC7 Los Angeles and will feature local news, as well as exclusive local ABC content.

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The sensationalisation of news comes head-to-head with Euro 2020

Cover image for The sensationalisation of news comes head-to-head with Euro 2020

Hanna Kahlert

17 Jun 2021

Less than a week in, and the coverage of Euro 2020 is off to a problematic start. Any big sports event taking place after a year of pandemic-induced lockdowns was bound to have its hitches. Yet few could have predicted the live coverage of an on-field cardiac arrest of a 29-year-old player.

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The video streaming shift from sports to news

Cover image for The video streaming shift from sports to news

Tim Mulligan

5 Nov 2020

Yesterday the Sinclair Broadcast Group reported its Q3 2020 results . A 37% increase in consolidated revenues was undone by a $4.2 billion impairment on the local sports segment due to the COVID-19 disruption wrought on its regional sports network.

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Zombies and vaporwave: Consumer vibes in 2020

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Hanna Kahlert

12 Sep 2020

News has become culturally vital in 2020. In a year of global health, social and economic disruption, it now possesses a relevant edge to compete vigorously for consumer attention in a saturated content marketplace.

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The COVID Bounce: How COVID-19 is Reshaping Entertainment Demand

Cover image for The COVID Bounce: How COVID-19 is Reshaping Entertainment Demand

Mark Mulligan

27 Mar 2020

The economic disruption and social dislocation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is not evenly distributed. Some business face catastrophe, while others thrive. Across the entertainment industries the same is true, ranging from a temporary collapse of the live business through to a surge in gaming activity.

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How Technology Is Radically Reshaping Politics

Mark Mulligan

6 Sep 2019

alternative facts

As I write this, the UK is in the midst of a potential constitutional crisis following the UK government’s proposed changes to political norms in order to push through Brexit. In some ways this is what you get when a country only has a part-written constitution and never quite got round to phasing out archaic tools such as proroguing parliament (a monarchical prerogative that was used by medieval Plantagenet kings such as Edward I and Edward II in the 13thand 14thcenturies).

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Here’s Why Apple Just Killed Off iTunes

Mark Mulligan

4 Jun 2019

Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks during Apple's annual Worldwide Developers Conference in San Jose, California, U.S. June 3, 2019. REUTERS/Mason Trinca Apple has announced that it is closing iTunes and replacing it with three new apps: Apple Music, Apple Podcasts and Apple TV Apps.

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The Medium is The Message

Georgia Meyer

20 Aug 2018

When Jonah Peretti, the founder and CEO of Buzzfeed, made the now famous statement that, “Content is King but distribution is the Queen, and she wears the trousers” back in 2015, he perhaps did not realise quite how instructive that observation would come to be for the media landscape.

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News is The Marketing Plug in Streaming Video’s Offering Gap

Tim Mulligan

4 Jun 2018

Last week it was revealed that BuzzFeed News plans to launch a new video interview show to be streamed on Facebook Watch. The weekly show will feature 20-minute episodes with news-making personalities from the worlds of politics and celebrity.

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WikiTribune Is a Start, But It Misses The Core Issue On Fake News

Zach Fuller

27 Apr 2017

alternative facts

Having created Wikipedia, one of the most widely read sites in the history of the World Wide Web, Jimmy Wales is aware of the complexities and pitfalls when it comes to managing the authenticity of information.

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Quick Take: Why Twitter Is Moving Into The Increasingly Congested VR Space

Zach Fuller

29 Jun 2016

augmented reality

Twitter have hired former Apple designer Alessandro Sabatelli to oversee the company’s Virtual and Augmented Reality teams, a position Sabatelli claims is to ‘empower us all in the spatial computing revolution’.

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