Blog: SVOD

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.

Why WEBTOON could pose a challenge to Crunchyroll’s anime strategy

Cover image for Why WEBTOON could pose a challenge to Crunchyroll’s anime strategy

Ben Woods

3 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

Anime is having a moment in Western markets. Signals of its popularity are continuously flashing across the entertainment industry, from the Naruto -inspired celebrations of Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke to Dolce & Gabbana’s high fashion collaboration with JUJUTSU KAISEN.

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Why social is a double-edged sword for streaming TV

Cover image for Why social is a double-edged sword for streaming TV

Ben Woods

7 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

TV shows, movies, and social creator content are lane hopping in search of engagement. It is common practice now for SVOD services to distribute one or several episodes for free on YouTube and TikTok in the hope of transforming social video viewers into SVOD subscribers.

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Can the smart TV become a canvas for content creation?

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Ben Woods

21 Feb 2025

Audience Insight

YouTube’s growing strength on smart TVs is a head scratching moment for the video industry. The social video platform recently revealed that US consumers watched 1 billion hours of YouTube content daily on their smart TVs in December 2024.

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The ad monetisation trap and what it means for video

Cover image for The ad monetisation trap and what it means for video

Tim Mulligan

18 Jun 2024

Ad-supported SVOD

Ads in subscription video on demand (SVOD) have now become normalised. In Q1 2024, Amazon Prime became the latest service to push ads onto its standard SVOD plan, following the lead of competitors Netflix and Disney.

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The future of streaming TV proves history always repeats itself

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Tim Mulligan

5 Jun 2024

midia forecasts

MIDIA Video Forecasts

Our “ MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts ” lays out our vision for the subscription video on demand (SVOD) landscape over the next eight years. Our forecasts last year focussed on the remainder of growth coming from Asia Pacific.

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Like Netflix, music needs a ‘second screen’ strategy

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Tatiana Cirisano

4 Jan 2024

Music streaming

The attention economy is more competitive than ever, with all entertainment types increasingly competing with each other for the same finite time. This has led to new levels of multitasking, like listening to a podcast while doing the daily Wordle, or online shopping from your iPhone while catching up on The Crown .

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Podcasts are following in the footsteps of TV and film…. should they?

Cover image for Podcasts are following in the footsteps of TV and film…. should they?

Rutger Rosenborg

14 Dec 2023

Spotify’s 17 percent workforce reduction was one of the biggest headlines in music, audio, and tech last week. Those layoffs coincided with the cancelation of some of the most critically-acclaimed podcasts to come out of Spotify’s acquisition drive: Heavyweight and Stolen .

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Why the video industry should embrace interactive gaming worlds

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Ben Woods

23 Nov 2023

linear broadcasters

Reaching audiences is an ongoing challenge for video IP holders, especially those with a stake in traditional broadcasting. There is the conundrum of transitioning linear audiences to streaming TV services.

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Embracing the cultural ascent of games: Zelda, Sony, and games-video symbiosis

Cover image for Embracing the cultural ascent of games: Zelda, Sony, and games-video symbiosis

Perry Gresham

10 Nov 2023

Legend of Zelda

Gaming has been mainstream for a while, but in recent years it has started flexing its cross-cultural muscles, intersecting with music, sports, and increasingly with video . The latest example is a new live-action movie, based on The Legend of Zelda games franchise, announced this week as a collaboration between Nintendo and Sony Pictures.

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DAZN bets on sports streaming future being driven by fandom

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Ben Woods

3 Aug 2023

The streaming-TV industry has an engagement question to answer. Of late, the dominant services have been preoccupied with soothing investor concerns over the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on subscriptions.

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Community and influencers are poised to lead a video monetisation revolution

Cover image for Community and influencers are poised to lead a video monetisation revolution

Ben Woods

18 Apr 2023

Streaming TV and social video services are enduring a bout of uncertainty from high inflation and sluggish economic growth. Traditional monetisation strategies that have underpinned these platforms are now being sorely tested by the economic tumult.

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FAST can help video services win the streaming wars… but it’s about more than just ads

Cover image for FAST can help video services win the streaming wars… but it’s about more than just ads

Ben Woods

21 Mar 2023

Earlier this month, the subscription streaming service DAZN took an uncharacteristic decision around its women’s sports coverage. Rather than using traditional marketing to coax viewers towards subscribing, the sports streamer opted for the in-vogue monetisation model known as free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST).

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Creators can narrow the quality gap with streaming services…. if they survive the AI ‘spamnami’

Cover image for Creators can narrow the quality gap with streaming services…. if they survive the AI ‘spamnami’

Ben Woods

7 Mar 2023

Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear has sounded a note of caution about artificial intelligence (AI). Responding to a tweet about how creators could make money while sleeping by autogenerating content on services such as ChatGPT, he warned how it risked fuelling a sharp rise in spam content.

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Not everyone can be a winner in the FAST gold rush

Cover image for Not everyone can be a winner in the FAST gold rush

Ben Woods

28 Feb 2023

Video streaming executives searching for relief from the high cost of acquiring new subscribers have found a saviour – and it looks a lot like linear TV. Free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) is becoming a necessity for video services whose strategy of spending big on exclusive content to attract subscribers is being tested by the higher cost of capital and the squeeze on household spending power.

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YouTube’s new king must reclaim the title of social video’s great innovator

Cover image for YouTube’s new king must reclaim the title of social video’s great innovator

Ben Woods

23 Feb 2023

YouTube’s changing of the guard has brought forward a stark reality: the social video platform responsible for a seismic shift in how video is created, monetised, and distributed is now looking and feeling like an incumbent.

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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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YouTube has dismantled the walls between social video and SVOD

Cover image for YouTube has dismantled the walls between social video and SVOD

Ben Woods

24 Jan 2023

How do you define YouTube in 2023? The Google-owned app has evolved into a complicated media outfit. It stretches beyond social video content and deep into subscription video on demand (SVOD). It is a wholly different business to the platform that posted its first user-generated video – Me at the zoo – In April 2005.

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Netflix adds a splash of colour to 2023 content marketing

Cover image for Netflix adds a splash of colour to 2023 content marketing

Ashleigh Millar

11 Jan 2023

Netflix originals

Netflix has catapulted itself into being one of the first viral entertainment-focused discussions of 2023. Its new original series, Kaleidoscope , released on January 1st, has caused chatter throughout social media platforms – not because of its plot, but because of its unique viewer experience.

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Social video’s shopping push will be a rare recession winner

Cover image for Social video’s shopping push will be a rare recession winner

Ben Woods

22 Nov 2022

Despite pressure on Joe Biden’s administration to ban TikTok , the social video app made a fresh incursion into America earlier this month by bringing its live-streaming e-commerce service TikTok Shop to US consumers.

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