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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.

Sky shows hand with bid for Scottish football TV rights

Alistair Taylor

12 Nov 2018

broadcast rights BT EPL

Sky sports has doubled down on UK football and is the firm favourite to acquire the exclusive rights to broadcast Scottish football (SPFL), having bid £100 million for the next block of rights, starting in 2021 (per The Scotsman ).

3 min read

What UMG and Boomplay's deal tells us about the future of African streaming

Zach Fuller

6 Nov 2018

african streaming boomplay telco streaming

Universal Music Group have announced today they will be signing a landmark licensing agreement with Boomplay, Africa’s leading music streaming and download service, in a deal that covers multiple markets within Africa.

4 min read

Demystifying the chaos: Amazon's quest for commercial omnipotence

Georgia Meyer

5 Nov 2018

brand partnerships financial results Amazon

There is hardly a moment that Amazon is not making the news. The business is now so vast, and spread across so many areas of technology, culture and commerce, that it is difficult to keep abreast of developments – or formulate a coherent picture of what its ambitions are.

4 min read

Sky and BT announce long term partnership for cross-supply of content

Alistair Taylor

2 Nov 2018

BT BT Sport collaboration

British broadcasters Sky and BT confirmed this week a long-term extension and expansion to an overall content cross-supply deal. Following the initial agreement signed in the UK last December, the partnership now includes Ireland, allowing Sky Ireland customers access to Sky Sports and BT Sport thro...

3 min read

Cover image for Sky and BT announce long term partnership for cross-supply of content

‘Hard Drive Share’ as a strategic weapon for console publishers (until streaming kicks off)

Karol Severin

2 Nov 2018

console games game developers game publishers

As you could tell from the social media frenzy about having to delete other games to accommodate the new Red Dead Redemption 2 (RDR2) release, hard drive space is a real issue for many console gamers, with their desire for a new game forcing some of their previously played games off their consoles.

5 min read

Can Spotify ever meet investors’ expectations?

Mark Mulligan

1 Nov 2018

Netflix Record labels Spotify

Spotify just posted another solid set of results, adding four million subscribers and beating profit and revenue estimates, yet its share price fell. What’s going on? Spotify is on track for where it should be, slightly below, but on track.

3 min read

Guess which is the leading headphone brand?

Mark Mulligan

1 Nov 2018

Music tech headphones

Headphones have been centre stage of the digital music market since the launch of the iPod in 2001. Portable music started more than two decades earlier with Sony’s Walkman, but it was digital’s ability to fill a device with catalogues of music, rather than just one album that empowered music li...

2 min read

Hoe are modern media subscription services building competitive advantages against traditional media?

Zach Fuller

29 Oct 2018

media business models media finance Streaming

Media, with its creative nature, often likes to define itself as distinct from other industries, and yet it is governed by many of the same principles that shape other areas of commerce. With the shift to streaming in full swing, how are media business models being affected by the market forces that...

4 min read

Spotify may already be too big for the labels to stop it competing with them

Mark Mulligan

26 Oct 2018

Artists direct independent record labels indie labels

Spotify’s Daniel Ek is betting big on developing a ‘two sided marketplace’ for music. With the company’s market cap on a downward trend despite strong growth metrics, Ek might find himself having to play up the disruption narrative more boldly and more quickly than he’d planned.

6 min read

Cover image for Spotify may already be too big for the labels to stop it competing with them

Twitter’s Q3 earnings usher in the new normal for public tech companies

Tim Mulligan

25 Oct 2018

Twitter Social earnings

Today’s Twitter Q3 earnings represents a signature change in big tech and the value criteria ascribed to publicly traded consumer facing tech companies. For the first time in Twitter’s five years as a public company, it has reported a decline in worldwide monthly active users (MAUs).

2 min read

Discovery taking PGA Tour golf global

Alistair Taylor

24 Oct 2018

audience digital content golf

Eurosport-parent Discovery and the PGA Tour have unveiled GolfTV , an upcoming international golf-centric subscription video on demand (SVOD) service. The announcement follows a 12-year, $2 billion June agreement granting Discovery the international rights to distribute PGA Tour content outside the ...

4 min read

Quick Take: Will stream dj-ing be the renaissance of SoundCloud?

Zach Fuller

19 Oct 2018

SoundCloud Music music industry

After a difficult two yearsthat saw acquisitions fall through and a lack of meaningful uptake of its subscription service, SoundCloud have needed some positive news. Reveredwithin the creator community though still struggling to make a profit, SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainorannounced today at Amsterdam...

2 min read

Cover image for Quick Take: Will stream dj-ing be the renaissance of SoundCloud?

Spotify, DistroKid, and the two sided marketplace

Mark Mulligan

17 Oct 2018

DistroKid Spotify spotify as a label

Spotify has taken a minority stake in DistroKid (per Music Business Worldwide ). In itself, it may be a slightly left field but relatively insignificant move, except that it is in fact one small but important step on a much bigger journey.

3 min read

Netflix Q3: The SVOD giant pushes on, but the tail risks are mounting

Tim Mulligan

17 Oct 2018

Netflix SVOD TV

Yesterday’s Q3 earnings results for Netflix were welcomed by a Wall Street unnerved by last week’s US stock sell off and fear that the tech majors, the growth engine for the 10-year bull run,are losing momentum.

3 min read

Event Postponed

Mark Mulligan

17 Oct 2018

Just to confirm that tonight's MIDiA Event is not taking place. The event has been postponed and we will announce the new date shortly.

1 min read

Is Rugby in a state of crisis?

Alistair Taylor

12 Oct 2018

audience reach Consumer behaviour debt

The value of Rugby has suffered another major blow in what has already been a tumultuous year financially for the sport. The asking price for the Six Nations title sponsorship has plunged 64% to just £6 million ($7.

4 min read

The Fan Bingbing Story and what it means for China’s 2018 video transformation

Tim Mulligan

11 Oct 2018

China Chinese box office Fan Bingbing

China has come a long way in short time in video. Going hand in hand with the dramatic economic expansion the Country has experienced, China’s domestic box office alone increased 19-fold between 2007 and 2017 to an estimated $8.

4 min read

Facebook launches its smart speaker: A few strategic considerations for Portal

Zach Fuller

9 Oct 2018

Facebook Facebook portal home devices

Earlier this year, MIDiA predicted that Facebook would join the smart speaker market : " A TV dongle or smart speaker: It makes strategic sense for Facebook to develop a TV dongle like Amazon’s Fire Stick or smart speaker like Apple’s HomePod, to give it a hardware foothold in the home—somethi...

4 min read

Cover image for Facebook launches its smart speaker: A few strategic considerations for Portal

Advertising week New York: The dynamic, the dead, and the dangerous

Georgia Meyer

9 Oct 2018

brand values digital consumers linear tv

Notoriously overwhelming, this week’s AWNY ramped activities up even further, expanding the number of stages from 8 to 12. A disorientating amount of content to navigate and a somewhat amusing metaphor for today’s digital consumer.

4 min read

Looking for the music in Tencent Music

Mark Mulligan

5 Oct 2018

China sec Tencent

The Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) F1 filing makes for highly interesting reading, but don’t expect copious amounts of data to give you an inside track in the way that Spotify’s F1 filing did. Instead TME’s F1 bears much closer resemblance to iQyi’s F1, namely a basic level of KPIs, lots ...

9 min read

Cover image for Looking for the music in Tencent Music

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