Blog: Subscriptions

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.

Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Cover image for Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Mark Mulligan

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming may be maturing from a revenue perspective but with two-tier (‘artist centric’) licensing and supremium, 2025 is set to be a year of transformative change in both product and business terms.

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Chaos and uncertainty: Tariffs’ impact on gamers and the games market

Cover image for Chaos and uncertainty: Tariffs’ impact on gamers and the games market

Rhys Elliott

10 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Tariff turmoil related to the US’ trade war is intensifying. Other countries have retaliated, and while Trump has eased tariffs in some countries, the situation is far from being resolved. The tariffs have major implications for the games market in the US.

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Cover image for A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.

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Subscriptions are not the future of podcast monetisation

Cover image for Subscriptions are not the future of podcast monetisation

Rutger Rosenborg

15 Oct 2024

As markets fragment and niches grow, the need for meaningful, high-value exchanges between creators and their followers has never been more pressing. Yet, only a select few creators manage to transform direct subscriptions into a sustainable living wage.

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TikTok’s creator subscriptions point to the future of social platforms

Cover image for TikTok’s creator subscriptions point to the future of social platforms

Hanna Kahlert

1 Oct 2024

It’s been a big week for TikTok. On the heels of shutting down its music streaming service , the platform has announced an expansion of its creator subscription program. In addition to existing LIVE Subscriptions, the paid subscription offering for livestreams, TikTok has announced that creators can now develop paid subscriptions for their followers, allowing them to access exclusive content, perks, and communities where they can engage with each other.

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As Big Tech courts everyone, niche platforms must understand podcast purists

Cover image for As Big Tech courts everyone, niche platforms must understand podcast purists

Rutger Rosenborg

10 Sep 2024

As boundaries fall, borders blur, and digital goods and services are increasingly decoupled from per-unit value, the mass consumer will turn to low-friction applications that do everything and offer everything.

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Can subscriptions keep the lights on for social?

Cover image for Can subscriptions keep the lights on for social?

Hanna Kahlert

19 Oct 2023

user-generated content

Digital advertising has long been the financial backbone of the digital world. It has underpinned the business models of the likes of Google and Meta, and its absence has been the value proposition of subscriptions, which now dominate digital entertainment.

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Are subscriptions the future of social apps?

Cover image for Are subscriptions the future of social apps?

Hanna Kahlert

22 Feb 2023

When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he was publicly faced with a seemingly impossible ask: make the iconic, culture-defining, long-standing social app (consistently) profitable. At the time of acquisition, Twitter did not have the same thriving ad business as Meta, and so Musk was forced to look at alternatives.

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Blue ticks and adverts and meta (AI)!

Cover image for Blue ticks and adverts and meta (AI)!

Ashleigh Millar

14 Feb 2023

Media and Marketing

Marketing Strategy

Another Super Bowl Sunday (and half-time show) has left us as quickly as it arrived. [SPOILER] Chiefs won 38 to 35, Rihanna’s “surprise guest” was in fact her baby bump, and Fox Sports reported that ad spots during the game cost circa $7 million per 30 seconds.

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The streaming wars will be won with technology, not content

Cover image for The streaming wars will be won with technology, not content

Ben Woods

31 Jan 2023

The modern entertainment industry is a tale of re-invention. The need for vast amounts of content to justify the value of a subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service has made the artists, series, and franchises of yesteryear just as valuable to platforms as the next blockbuster hit.

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How Apple’s commission is reconfiguring Spotify’s audiobook strategy

Cover image for How Apple’s commission is reconfiguring Spotify’s audiobook strategy

Annie Langston

23 Nov 2022

Spotify’s audiobook rollout has hit a major roadblock. Spotify debuted its service in September as a la carte , where users purchased audiobooks individually. In order to avoid Apple’s 30% commission on in-app purchases for apps listed in its App Store, users were directed to purchase audiobooks online, after which the audiobook would appear in the app.

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Video streamers batten down the hatches, the social subscription revolution is coming

Cover image for Video streamers batten down the hatches, the social subscription revolution is coming

Ben Woods

25 Oct 2022

Social media companies have been happy to ride the tumultuous waves of digital advertising regardless of the market dominance of Google and Facebook. Arguments for tweaking the business model have always struggled to win-out against the benefits of scale, even during the economic turmoil caused by the pandemic.

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Apple’s latest podcasting moves poke holes in Spotify’s strategy

Cover image for Apple’s latest podcasting moves poke holes in Spotify’s strategy

Annie Langston

24 Aug 2022

Apple has been quieter than its other podcast competitors in the past, but it is continuing to develop its audio offerings. Apple’s most noteworthy attempt to expand its platform thus far was introducing podcast subscriptions to entice creators and compete against Spotify’s offerings.

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Are we headed towards subscription fatigue?

Cover image for Are we headed towards subscription fatigue?

Hanna Kahlert

21 Jul 2022

When streaming first made headway in the entertainment world, it shifted the very dynamic of consumption. Ownership became a status symbol of yester-year; access to everything, at all times , was the new value driver.

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Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Cover image for Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Karol Severin

28 Apr 2022

attention recession

Inflation, as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical developments (from Brexit, through chasing Covid-induced debt, right up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) will likely drive disposable income (and therefore entertainment spending) down in the near future.

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Podcast subscriptions are a key territory for the audio market

Cover image for Podcast subscriptions are a key territory for the audio market

Annie Langston

12 Apr 2022

Podcast subscriptions offer both a direct revenue stream for audio creators and provide fans with an amplified audio experience. Despite the percentage that the subscription services take from the earrings, this is a steady income source for creators, and the model is being adopted by the large audience platforms.

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When will we reach peak subscription?

Cover image for When will we reach peak subscription?

Tatiana Cirisano

31 Jan 2022

Creator economy

Earlier this month, Instagram and TikTok both began testing subscription models where users offer their followers paid access to exclusive content, following in the footsteps of platforms like Twitch, Patreon, Twitter and Facebook.

min read

Why Instagram is climbing aboard the subscription bandwagon

Cover image for Why Instagram is climbing aboard the subscription bandwagon

Ashleigh Millar

21 Jan 2022

Meta has announced that, following the success that came from its ‘fan subscriptions’ (now called ‘Subscriptions’) trial in June 2020, it will be testing the subscription model on Instagram via a select number of US-based creators.

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Creator consolidation: Fender becomes the next creator tools major

Cover image for Creator consolidation: Fender becomes the next creator tools major

Kriss Thakrar

2 Nov 2021

music production

Independent artists

When Francisco Partners brought together Native Instruments and Izotope, it created the first creator tool major . Now a second player has staked its claim: Fender has made one of the biggest creator tools moves of the year through its acquisition of guitar-focused creator tools company, PreSonus .

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The subscription market model has now taken over consumption, but will it reach a saturation point?

Cover image for The subscription market model has now taken over consumption, but will it reach a saturation point?

Hanna Kahlert

25 Jun 2021

When the balance of Netflix’s value proposition swung from mail-delivered DVDs to the then-mind-blowing idea of a streaming service, the implications stretched far wider than for the movie and TV industry.

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