Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

The Premier League going pay-per-view means a sucker-punch for sports fans

15 Oct 2020

English Premier League (EPL) clubs have agreed an ‘interim solution’ to allow fans to continue watching their teams live. EPL fixtures not selected for broadcast in October will be available to fans on a pay-per-view (PPV) basis.

min read

Developers versus distributors: The App and Play Stores see challenge on the horizon

Hanna Kahlert

7 Oct 2020

Apple

Google

app store

Six months ago, Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store were the unquestioned gateways between app developers and consumer devices. Today, the unshakeable foundations of the fortress walls are, well, shaken.

min read

German Bundesliga faces 20% decline in value for its international rights

Alistair Taylor

1 Oct 2020

Bundesliga

premier league

EPL

German business publisher Sponsors has announced the German Football League (DFL) is facing a 20% decline in the total value of its overseas’ broadcast rights for the 2020/21 campaign. This is down from the €250 million ($292 million USD) that Bundesliga International (the league’s internation...

min read

DAZN 2019 Financials and Subscriber Deep Dive
Domestic Rights Key to Unlocking Audiences

Cover image for DAZN 2019 Financials and Subscriber Deep Dive

Alistair Taylor

September 2020

Sky

Financial Times

NFL

DAZN’s 2018 financials highlighted the difficulty in encouraging consumer adoption of a digital live sports proposition with a limited portfolio of sports rights. 2019 marked a year of consolidation and growth. DAZN learnt quickly that without premium domestic content it is difficult to penetrate competitive markets effectively.

Microsoft’s Zenimax acquisition is about the future of Games Pass more than console sales

Karol Severin

30 Sep 2020

Games

games consoles

Zenimax

With the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Microsoft is gaining an important content asset for its portfolio – Bethesda’s games. And while the timing of the announcement certainly won’t make Sony too happy as it is about to launch PS5, the key benefits of this acquisition are tied to the future of...

min read

Oracle and Walmart re-emerge to take on the future of a US TikTok

Hanna Kahlert

22 Sep 2020

Mobile content

Online video

TikTok

Since the announced US ban of ByteDance and WeChat in August, the future of the widely popular short-form social video app TikTok has been murky and vaguely chaotic. Two weeks ago, Microsoft and Walmart looked to be the partnership to take up the torch.

min read

Music Subscriber Market Shares 4.0
Subscriptions Decouple from Revenue

Cover image for Music Subscriber Market Shares 4.0

Mark Mulligan

September 2020

Subscriptions

Streaming

Music Subscriptions

This report presents key figures from MIDiA’s global music subscriber market shares model. The full dataset is published alongside this report with quarterly data from Q4 2015 to Q1 2020 and annual label trade revenue from full year 2015 to full year 2019 for 27 streaming services across 34 different markets.

Verizon Media announces platform to ‘evolve’ live streaming experience

Alistair Taylor

16 Sep 2020

Verizon

Verzion Media

Verizon Fios

Verizon Media announced a series of new Media Platform improvements in a press release today (16th September), intended to ‘evolve the live streaming experience’. These features are all aimed at increasing fan engagement following COVID-19’s detrimental impact on the overall viewing spectacle ...

min read

Mulan – a tale of international compromise leaving no one satisfied

Tim Mulligan

14 Sep 2020

Online video

Mulan

Disney

A year unlike any other continues to throw curveballs at media companies with strong digital and international footprints. The live-action remake of the popular 90’s Disney animation Mulan has been 10 years in the making.

min read

DAZN financials: Growth reliant on premium domestic rights

Alistair Taylor

14 Sep 2020

DAZN

DAZN Group

Perform

DAZN’s 2018 financials highlighted the difficulty of encouraging a transition to consume live sports digitally with its existing portfolio of rights. DAZN has not yet released its 2019 financials, but MIDiA has constructed a robust and accurate subscriber and revenue model for the sport-centric st...

min read

Post-Pandemic Programming
Surviving and Thriving in the Recession

Cover image for Post-Pandemic Programming

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor, Keith Jopling and Hanna Kahlert

September 2020

Apple

live

COVID-19 caused dislocation and disruption to the global entertainment business. Now, the recession and the prospect of further pandemic peaks have created an unprecedented outlook for entertainment companies. Many of the shifts that occurred during lockdown will define the new market dynamics.

Is it time for the music industry to rethink how it wants to participate in the gaming opportunity?

Karol Severin

4 Sep 2020

music industry

Gaming

cross-entertainment strategy

Music consumption, particularly in the West, is commoditised. Transforming from the economies of ownership to access and the removal of production and distribution barriers led to the devaluation of, not necessarily ‘the song’, but of ‘ listening to a song’ .

min read

Wanda Sports Group’s financials highlight long-term impact of live hiatus

Alistair Taylor

3 Sep 2020

sports fans

covid

live sports

Wanda Sports Group’s (WSG) Q2 financials highlight a significant decline in revenues on account of “the broad effects of COVID-19 mitigation efforts”. WSG reported a second successive quarter of decreasing revenues , following its disappointing Q1 results which saw a 26% year-on-year (YoY) dec...

min read

Recovery Economics
Post-Lockdown Sports

Alistair Taylor

August 2020

Disney

Comcast

Sky

As live sports resume following the coronavirus crisis lockdowns, the long-term impact of sports’ mass hiatus will be substantial. An activity gap created a void state for consumers, freeing up previously allocated attention and causing them to reconsider retaining subscriptions with diluted service offerings.

Can LiveScore learn valuable lessons from Eleven Sports’ UK failings?

Alistair Taylor

24 Aug 2020

streaming service

LiveScore

OTT

Streaming insurgent LiveScore launched its first ever over-the-top (OTT), ad-supported direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming proposition in the UK back in June, harbouring a similar rights portfolio to that of Eleven Sports’ failed proposition back in 2018 .

min read

Epic Games takes on the media giants in #freefortnite fiasco

Karol Severin

21 Aug 2020

Fortnite

Epic Games

Apple

Conflict between the gaming world and the tech giants erupted last Thursday, with Fortnite being removed from the App Store and Play Store, two lawsuits being registered, and a (niche) viral outbreak of Epic Games’ #freefortnite campaign.

min read

Spotify Q2 2020 Earnings
In the Shadow of COVID

Cover image for Spotify Q2 2020 Earnings

Mark Mulligan

August 2020

Subscriptions

Streaming

Streaming Music

Spotify’s share price grew strongly in June 2020, with the markets responding positively to its podcast investments. However, while that increase was sustained throughout July, by mid-August the share price was heading back down to late-June levels.

MIDiA Research 2020-2027 Global Music Forecasts
Volume Trumps Value as Emerging Markets Dominate Growth

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2020-2027 Global Music Forecasts

Mark Mulligan

July 2020

Music revenue

Spotify

YouTube

This report presents the key figures, trends and drivers of MIDiA’s music forecast model. The figures presented in this report are retail values and in billions of US dollars unless otherwise stated. An Excel file posted alongside this report provides complete country-level data, including DSP market shares and a detailed methodology statement.

Recovery Economics
Post-Lockdown TV

Tim Mulligan

July 2020

Apple

Amazon

Streaming video

As society emerges from the COVID-19 imposed lockdown, the ongoing impact on TV production will be significant; returning to normal means adapting to the constraints of social distancing. The increased use of sound stages and green screen facilities will become the norm in the absence of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Recession Impact
Music Industry 2020 Growth Scenarios

Mark Mulligan

June 2020

live music

Music publishing

Record labels

As part of MIDiA’s research stream focused on how COVID-19 is impacting the entertainment industries, this report explores how the combination of lockdown measures and the coming recession will impact music industry revenues in 2020.

Business Strategy