Quick Take: Snap Inc’s Q2 Earnings

Blog post by Zach Fuller

11 Aug 2017

facebook

google

instagram

After much anticipation, Snap Inc has released its Q2 earnings outlining the company’s progress in the past three months. Of course, much of the attention has focused on missing growth and revenue targets,...

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Super Evil Megacorp Pushes Mobile Gaming Boundaries

Blog post by Karol Severin

10 Aug 2017

e.v.i.l. engine

Games

moba

The company most known for its multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) title Vainglory, has announced that it successfully raised $19 million to further expand its studio space. Besides its name, Super...

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Iflix And The Emerging Market Opportunity For Video

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

9 Aug 2017

inflix

netflix

Online video

Subscription video service Iflix yesterday announced that it had secured $133 million in a new round of funding. It brings the total investment in the company to date to $298 million. Iflix was launched...

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Apple, Eros And The Billion Dollar Content Play

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

8 Aug 2017

Apple

emerging markets

eros group

On August 7th the   Economic Times  ran a story on Apple’s perceived interest in acquiring the film and music catalogue of the Eros Group, which is the largest movie producer in India. Although not...

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Neymar to PSG: The Collision of Peak Pay-TV and New Media Economics

Blog post by Zach Fuller

4 Aug 2017

Reactions to Neymar Jr’s $260M move to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) are divisive. Many will bemoan it as a marker of how far football has gone from the days when the chasm between player and fan was less...

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Quick Take: Zynga Swings To Profit in Q2

Blog post by Karol Severin

3 Aug 2017

brand loyalty

forever franchise

Games

Zynga is turning things around. Its Q2 2017 revenue and booking performance were the best in four years. The company’s revenue was $209.2 million, up from $181.7million in Q2 2016. What’s more, Zynga...

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Spotify at 60 Million Paid Subscribers: What’s Next?

Blog post by Zach Fuller

2 Aug 2017

Spotify announced on August 1 that it had reached 60 million paid subscribers, just five months after the company hit 50 million. This is positive news for the music streaming economy, but with a prospective...

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The Three Eras Of Paid Streaming

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

28 Jul 2017

3 ages of streaming

3 eras of streaming

3 phases of streaming

Streaming has driven such a revenue renaissance within the major record labels that the financial markets are now falling over themselves to work out where they can invest in the market, and indeed whether...

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Nintendo’s Results Beat Expectations

Blog post by Karol Severin

27 Jul 2017

game consoles

Games

Games console

Nintendo is going from strength to strength. According to its quarterly earnings results released yesterday, the company earned ¥154.1 billion, surpassing analysts’ median forecast of ¥136.5 billion....

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The Relentless Rise of YouTube

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

27 Jul 2017

Alphabet

emerging markets

google

Monday unfurled the latest chapter in the YouTube Journey. At the Q2 earnings announcement for Alphabet, Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed that Alphabet’s growth in revenues in Q2 2016 was largely due...

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Bertelsmann and Penguin Random House: A Strategy Based on Extremes

Blog post by Zach Fuller

24 Jul 2017

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...

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How Social Influences Impact Tech Innovation

Blog post by Zach Fuller

21 Jul 2017

artificial intelligence

ballooning

flight

We know we cannot predict the future, yet the fortunes of investors and entrepreneurs continue to be made and lost in trying. Whether you are Nostradamus or a staff writer on  Black Mirror , the future...

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YouTube And Latin America Are Taking Over The World

Blog post by Mark Mulligan

20 Jul 2017

1 billion streams

2 billion streams

adele

Unless you have been on Mars for the last couple of days you will have seen the news that Luis Fonsi’s ‘Despacito’ has become the most streamed track in history with 4.6 billion streams. The figure...

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Zynga Teams Up With MGM To Create ‘Words With Friends’ Game Show

Blog post by Karol Severin

20 Jul 2017

cross-format entertainment

Games

games on tv

MGM Television and Zynga have announced a collaboration to develop a new television game show based on Words With Friends , the world's most popular mobile word game. The show will also incorporate aspects...

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What The New Season Of Game Of Thrones Tells Us About YouTube Engagement

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

20 Jul 2017

game of thrones

HBO

Online video

YouTube has been notoriously coy about its user growth, with the official PR line for the company still stating that it has ‘Over one billion users.’ For a company that has been the driving force behind...

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Quick Take: An Echo Sales Spike on Prime Day Is Another Win For Amazon’s Burgeoning Service Business

Blog post by Zach Fuller

14 Jul 2017

Amazon

amazon echo dot

amazon prime video

Amazon Echo revenues have until now remained relatively small. With the device still available in just three markets (US, UK and Germany), its main victories have been in its cultural impact, as well...

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Can Oculus’s planned $200 VR headset move the needle for VR in gaming?

Blog post by Karol Severin

14 Jul 2017

facebook vr

Games

oculus rift

So far, VR hasn’t exactly taken off in they way many would have predicted 2 years ago. MIDiA Research consumer survey data reveals that just 4% of consumers own a VR headset (weighted average across...

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Why Net Neutrality Is Central To The Streaming Economy

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

13 Jul 2017

Binge One

Comcast

net neutrality

The existential question of the digital era is net neutrality. Since the utopian days of 1989 when World Wide Web pioneer Tim Berners-Lee first connected his colleagues via computers at CERN in Switzerland,...

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How A Month With Spectacles Changed My Outlook On Snap’s Future

Blog post by Karol Severin

7 Jul 2017

Innovation

Media

Mobile content

When the SnapBot finally popped up in Berlin, I eagerly trekked to the location to see whether the product would change my existing opinions about the company’s future. It did. I made my way to the SnapBot...

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Why LaVar Ball Has Chosen Facebook For His Family Reality TV Series

Blog post by Tim Mulligan

7 Jul 2017

basketball

facebook

LaVar Ball

Facebook has commissioned LaVar Ball for a docu-series, which revolves around his  basketball superstar sons - Lonzo, Liangelo, LaMelo and their fast-rising careers in the second most widely viewed sport...

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