MIDiA Blog

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.

Vice Media Acquires Refinery29 as Digital Media Reaches Its Consolidation Phase

Zach Fuller

4 Oct 2019

It does not feel like long ago that Vice was the darling of digital media, attracting investment from Walt Disney, 21st Century Fox and TPG with valuations reaching as high as $5.7 billion. As the financial lust wore-off, investments were written down, staff cut and long-standing management removed.

3 min read

Is Apple Preparing for Its First Oscar?

Tim Mulligan

3 Oct 2019

Last week’s story that Apple is getting into the movie business to bolster its premium video positioning – if officially confirmed – would follow on the well-trodden path established by the current direct-to-consumer (D2C) leaders: Netflix and Amazon.

4 min read

Why PlayStation Now’s Price Cut Alone Is Not Enough To Compete

Karol Severin

2 Oct 2019

games streaming

Despite a price cut, PlayStation remains the most expensive gaming experience: PlayStation has announced a 50% price cut to its games streaming service, PlayStation Now. Though slicing a streaming service price point in half is a bold move which will attract a lot of media attention, the reality is that despite the price reduction the ability to get a complete gaming experience out of Sony remains comparatively expensive: Console (assuming average 4.

4 min read

Five Trends Changing Music Marketing

Keith Jopling

2 Oct 2019

Marketing music has never been straightforward. That’s why back in the day, label executives would use the single as the shortcut to finding an audience on which to propel the artist, and even more importantly, their latest album.

5 min read

Why Short Form Content Resonates with Younger Generations

Cover image for Why Short Form Content Resonates with Younger Generations

Amanda Stears

2 Oct 2019

digital natives

Digital natives – be they classified as millennials or generation Z – have always had the term “instant gratification” associated with them. This is a reflection of the way technology has shaped and moulded every aspect of their daily lives and interactions.

4 min read

Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) September 27th 2019

Cover image for Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) September 27th 2019

Mark Mulligan

30 Sep 2019

Music licensing hubs: Monokromelaunched its Rights Hub , contractual rights and file management platform for rightsholders, while Soundfeed put its label sub-licensing platform into open beta.

2 min read

Have We Reached Peak Tech?

Cover image for Have We Reached Peak Tech?

Mark Mulligan

27 Sep 2019

In last week’s Take Five I highlighted a Vox story which reported that over the last year the number of companies using terms like ‘tech’ or technology’ in their documents is down 12%. This is an early indicator of a much more fundamental concept – we may have already reached peak in the tech sector, the business sector that has driven the fourth industrial revolution.

5 min read

Welcome to the Post-Peak Emmys

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Tim Mulligan

27 Sep 2019

Digital audiences

Sunday night saw the 71 st Emmy Awards broadcast live on Fox. Traditionally the Emmys have been the cornerstone of TV production credibility alongside the BAFTAs. However, the Oscars of the TV industry is facing two existential challenges which threaten its relevance: plummeting ratings, and the ongoing encroachment of the streaming services.

3 min read

Knock On: Rights Holders Cannot Chance Latency?

Cover image for Knock On: Rights Holders Cannot Chance Latency?

Alistair Taylor

26 Sep 2019

broadband providers

The IRB Rugby World Cup (RWC) commenced last Friday with hosts Japan producing a fine victory over second-time qualifiers Russia, 30-10. The first RWC to be held in Asia provides Australasian countries with a much more sociable tournament in terms of kick-off times.

5 min read

Could a Recession Change the Tide for Sports Rights Allocation?

Cover image for Could a Recession Change the Tide for Sports Rights Allocation?

Alistair Taylor

24 Sep 2019

additive services

all-encompassing offering

Revenue remains rights holder’s priority qualifier for allocating rights. However, with an impending recession, we are likely nearing an inflection point whereby rights holders may start to look towards prioritising reach over revenue.

5 min read

Three Things You Need to Know About ASMR Videos

Cover image for Three Things You Need to Know About ASMR Videos

Amanda Stears

24 Sep 2019

What is ASMR? ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response, a sensory phenomenon that is increasingly known to induce relaxation and counteract anxiety. ASMR is known to induce a tingling sensation which usually spreads across the scalp and back of the neck when triggered by audio and visual stimuli.

3 min read

Amazon Launches HD Streaming: Is Quality Still Enough to Escape Commodification?

Zach Fuller

23 Sep 2019

This week, Amazon will launch Amazon Music HD in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, offering 50 million lossless HD songs with a sample rate of 44.1kHz described by Amazon as ‘CD quality’. It is an interesting move for the company and arguably the first to meaningfully push HD music streaming back into the music streaming conversation since TIDAL’s launch back in 2016.

3 min read

How Fender Riffed on Trends to Drive Its Future Forward

Cover image for How Fender Riffed on Trends to Drive Its Future Forward

Keith Jopling

23 Sep 2019

By now everyone connected with business, music or both, knows the cautionary tale of Gibson Guitars. Rescued from insolvency in 2018, Gibson had been taken to the brink by a series of calamitous decisions, from transforming into a music lifestyle business loosely modelled on ‘what Nike is to sports’, to the digital self-tuning ‘robot’ guitar.

7 min read

Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) September 22nd 2019

Cover image for Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) September 22nd 2019

Mark Mulligan

22 Sep 2019

Amazon, hi-def bet: Amazon has launched its long-slated Amazon Music HD service, delivering lossless FLAC files to a new HD streaming tier. Amazon is betting on its older, higher-income user base to care more about quality than Spotify users.

3 min read

The Future of Music: A Vision of Post-Format

Cover image for The Future of Music: A Vision of Post-Format

Mark Mulligan

18 Sep 2019

Formats have shaped and dictated the evolution of recorded music. The constraints that formats set have, in turn, become the creative frameworks within which music has operated. Now, in the internet era, formats are becoming a thing of the past – and yet the way in which music is made and distributed still conforms to the old physical world.

5 min read

Advertising at the Dawn of AVOD: Privacy and Consumer Sentiment

Hanna Kahlert

18 Sep 2019

The market is prepping itself for a big push into ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), as illustrated by Viacom’s recent acquisition of Pluto TV, Sinclair Broadcasting Group’s launch of STIRR, and Amazon’s IMDbTV rebrand and subsequent European rollout.

4 min read

Prosus – The Prometheus Rising of the Tech Major Era

Tim Mulligan

17 Sep 2019

Amsterdam Euronext

Johannesburg Stock Exchange

Post-war western alternative culture was distilled in Robert Anton Wilson’s cult classic Prometheus Rising . First published in 1983, it was considered a guidebook of “how to get from here to there” and described by its author as an “owner’s manual for the human brain”.

4 min read

NFL Tackles Gen Z through Social Media Platforms

Amanda Stears

17 Sep 2019

5 September marked the kick-off of the 2019 National Football League (NFL) season – its 100th season to-date. This will be particularly relevant for broadcasters and sports rights holders alike, as the CBS broadcast of Super Bowl LIII back in February recorded its TV audience at an all-time low since 2008.

4 min read

Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) - September 16th 2019

Cover image for Take Five (the big five stories and data you need to know) - September 16th 2019

Mark Mulligan

16 Sep 2019

apple device portfolio

Spotify – small step, big step: Spotify has announced that it is ac quiring musician marketplace company Soundbetter. Back in July, Spotify halted its artist direct offering. Some quarters viewed that as the end of Spotify’s disruptive label-competitor strategy.

3 min read

What the Recorded Music Industry Can Learn from the Whaling Industry of the 19th Century

Zach Fuller

15 Sep 2019

A high-risk industry with large upfront costs and no guarantee of return. No, this is not the recorded music industry, nor is it venture capital (VC) – this is the whaling industry of the 19th century.

4 min read

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