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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.

Sports, television, music, politics – Cultural cohesion in a climate of division

Hanna Kahlert

8 Aug 2019

cultural insight Entertainment Media

History (so they say) repeats itself. While in some instances this might bring about the comfort of cyclical certainty, in others – as we near a new roaring 20’s with what looks to be thematic similarity to all the economic boom and political chaos of the last – this can prove, shall we say, d...

3 min read

The mouse that roared: Disney calls time on traditional pay-TV and Netflix in the US

Tim Mulligan

7 Aug 2019

Disney Video Business Strategy

Aspredicted, Disney has decided to flip the switch and unleash a pay-TV (and Netflix) killer by announcing a Q4 bundle of its streaming services in one joint aggressively-priced offer. On November 12th, 2019 when Disney launches its new direct-to-consumer (D2C) service Disney+, it will be possible t...

3 min read

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Not so Galactico – What went wrong for La Liga?

Alistair Taylor

7 Aug 2019

broadcast deals La Liga Sports

Joris Evers, La Liga’s head of communications, confirmed last week that the rights holder has withdrawn its tender for broadcast rights to Spanish soccer’s premier league in the UK and Ireland after failing to receive any acceptable bids, due by the 25th July (via SportsPro ).

4 min read

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BBC iPlayer to lead catch-up TV

Amanda Stears

7 Aug 2019

BBC iPlayer Catch Up TV linear tv

On 1 August, UK media regulator Ofcom announced that BBC can now extend its catch-up shows’ validity on BBC iPlayer for up to 12 months, as compared to the previous 30-day period. Apart from being able to watch shows longer than the standard 30-day period, viewers can also expect more than 50 show...

3 min read

Backing both horses: The thinking behind Tencent’s UMG stake

Mark Mulligan

6 Aug 2019

Tencent Tencent Music Entertainment umg

As long expected, Tencent is poised to take a stake in Vivendi, reported to be 10%. While the news might not be surprising, there are a number of important factors at play: Tencent fast-tracked? Given that various entities stated their interest in investing in UMG, Vivendi appears to have fast-track...

3 min read

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Take Five (The big five stories and data you need to know) August 5th 2019

Mark Mulligan

5 Aug 2019

Take Five Cultural trends

Spotify – steady sailing, for now: Spotify hit 108 million subscribers in Q2 2019 – which is exactly what we predicted. Spotify continues to grow in line with the wider market, maintaining market share.

3 min read

Tencent renewal: NBA the envy of global rports rights holders?

Alistair Taylor

1 Aug 2019

live sports National Basketball Association NBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent have announced a five-year extension of their existing partnership, with Tencent acting as the NBA’s official digital partner until the culmination of the 2024/2025 season.

5 min read

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Will content fragmentation drive a new rise of piracy?

Hanna Kahlert

1 Aug 2019

content spend Innovation Mobile content

The digital content marketplace largely has peer-to-peer content piracy to thank for the behaviours and dynamics characterising it today. Piracy itself was the forefront of the new era, quickly being overtaken by legitimate streaming services, which also challenged – and continue to challenge – ...

4 min read

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YouTube is monetising fandom through subscriptions

Amanda Stears

31 Jul 2019

Fandom monetisation Subscriptions

YouTube is no stranger to subscription models; it had 53 paid channels in 2013 with monthly subscriptions priced from $0.99-$2.99. Four years later, the paid channels were discontinued with YouTube stating in its blog, “This service offered monthly subscriptions for some channels, but with less th...

4 min read

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State of the Streaming Nation 3.0: Multi-Paced Growth

Mark Mulligan

30 Jul 2019

Regular followers of MIDiA will know that one of our flagship releases is our State of the Streaming Nation report. Now into its third year, this report is the definitive assessment of the streaming music market.

4 min read

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Music publishing and the catalogue question

Zach Fuller

29 Jul 2019

music catalogue Music publishing Recorded music

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." Somewhere in a field back in the summer of 2008, Rage Against the Machine used this line as the bridge in their opening song ‘Testify’ during their Friday headline act.

3 min read

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Is YouTube MLB’s answer to tap into younger audiences?

Alistair Taylor

29 Jul 2019

YouTube MLB Sports

On July 18th, Google-owned YouTube livestreamed the first of its exclusive Major League Baseball (MLB) matches, acquired through a partnership announced with the MLB at the end of April 2019. YouTube’s first exclusive live game distribution deal with the MLB covers 13 games during the second half ...

5 min read

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Thinking the unthinkable – Netflix as gatekeeper

Tim Mulligan

29 Jul 2019

AVOD Strategy SVOD

Life after Netflix’s disappointing Q2 earnings has been challenging for the iconic global streaming hegemon. Netflix has achieved hegemonic global subscription video on demand (SVOD) status through a smart combination of serving up second-tier licensed content alongside zeitgeisty original and exc...

2 min read

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What a post-peak Netflix could look like

Tim Mulligan

25 Jul 2019

Netflix Strategy Video

Last week was a bumpy ride for Netflix – a company that is used to being on the right side of Wall Street and the consumer. The world’s leading streaming service made a noticeable miss with is quarterly membership growth numbers increasing by 2.

3 min read

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Why sitcoms are the leaders in scripted shows

Amanda Stears

24 Jul 2019

scripted drama sitcoms TV

On May 2004, 52.5 million Americans tuned in to watch the season finale of Friends . 15 years later, it is still one of the most-watched TV shows in history. When news broke that Friends and The Office (US) will no longer be available on Netflix come early 2020, subscribers were not pleased.

3 min read

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The Frank Ocean days may be gone, but streaming disintermediation is just getting started

Mark Mulligan

24 Jul 2019

Marketing Music Business Strategy

Music Business Worldwide recently ran a story highlighting that both Spotify and Apple Music were backing independent artist (i.e., independent of record label rather than an indie label artist) Aaron Smith, including featuring him in priority playlists such as Spotify’s New Music Friday.

4 min read

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The State of the Music Publishing Nation

Hanna Kahlert

22 Jul 2019

Music Music publishing Business Strategy

This blog highlights some key points from MIDiA’s latest flagship report, the State of the Music Publishing Nation . Now that streaming is settling into its role as the de-facto mode of consumption (contributing to 50% of music industry revenues last year), the acceleration of publishing growth is...

3 min read

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Sports and sponsorships: MLB seeks revenue home run

Alistair Taylor

22 Jul 2019

Sports Strategy Video

Major League Baseball (MLB) could finally allow for sponsorship patches appearing on its teams’ uniforms, the league confirmed to the Sports Business Journal . US sports have historically steered clear from patch sponsors on game day apparel, until 2006 when the Major League Soccer’s Real Salt L...

5 min read

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Music publishing as an asset class – Update

Zach Fuller

19 Jul 2019

Music publishing Music music industry

Back in February, MIDiA released a report detailing the financial innovation taking place in the recorded music industry and how this was effectively securitising the concept of music publishing rights.

3 min read

Should streaming services produce TV shows in a linear format?

Amanda Stears

17 Jul 2019

linear tv streaming service SVOD

Streaming video on demand (SVOD) giant Netflix is famous for cultivating the binge-watch phenomenon, fuelled by the popularity of its originals. In the pre-streaming era, people were dependent on traditional scheduled TV for engaging with TV shows.

3 min read

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