Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

Ad-supported strategies are playing a growing role in the digital economy

Mark Mulligan

21 Jan 2019

2018 was a big year for subscriptions, across music (Spotify on target to hit 92 million subscribers), video (global subscriptions passed half a billion), games (98 million Xbox Live and PlayStation Plus subscribers) and news ( New York Times 2.

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An alternative view: Why Apple will not be a service-based company

Zach Fuller

20 Jan 2019

Apple

tech companies

tech majors

Apple’s announcement of smartphone slowdown a few weeks back sent waves through the tech-centric investment landscape. Various requiems seem to suggest that with the stock price dropping 12%, the darkest day in the iPhone era means Apple will now have to focus on its service business if it is to r...

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DAZN stepping up its domestic rights offering – insurgent come enforcer?

Alistair Taylor

17 Jan 2019

DAZN

Eleven Sports

live sports

Having grown its portfolio for premium international and domestic sporting rights, DAZN is now starting to graduate from a disruptor into an established part of the landscape. Emphasised by its latest plan, aiming to snap up domestic Bundesliga rights in Germany for 2021–2025 (provided the terms a...

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Amazon, regional sports, and owning the local economy

Georgia Meyer

16 Jan 2019

Amazon Prime

Media

Regional Sports Networks

Amazon is reportedly bidding for all 22 US regional sports networks that Disney is putting up for sale (as part of its $73.1 billion deal to buy most of 21st Century Fox). Among the networks is the YES Network, that broadcasts New York Yankees games, as well as an array of professional NBA, NHL and ...

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Amazon dives into ad-supported video with IMDB Freedive

Tim Mulligan

16 Jan 2019

IMDB

IMDb Freedive

Online video

Last week’s US launch of IMDB Freedive marks Amazon’s long anticipated move into ad-supported Video on Demand (AVOD). IMDB is the long-standing Amazon subsidiary which operates as a film data base on an estimated 5 million titles and has 250 million monthly users.

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Just who would buy Universal Music?

Mark Mulligan

14 Jan 2019

umg

Universal Music

Music

Vivendi continues to look for a buyer for a portion of Universal Music (per Rolling Stone ). Though the process has been running officially since May 2018, the transaction (or transactions) may not close until 2020 (according to Music Business Worldwide ).

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Africa and Asia Music Repertoire Shares

Mark Mulligan

January 2019

iTunes

Spotify

YouTube

This report provides repertoire splits across streaming music services in a number of sub-Saharan African and Asian markets. Also presented are details on the key labels, artists and genres for each of the countries covered. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Apple Music, Avex, AWA Music, Boomplay, Cashtime, Chocolate City, Deezer, D-Hi...

Amazon continues tech majors’ foray into games streaming

Karol Severin

11 Jan 2019

Games

Gaming

Amazon

As we predicted in MIDiA’s 2019 Predictions Report published in November 2018, Amazon is now reportedly working on a games streaming service (per The Information ). With plans to launch in 2020, Amazon has commenced talks with publishers about distributing their titles through the service.

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Hulu’s integrated streaming and pay-TV approach could be the future of video entertainment

Tim Mulligan

11 Jan 2019

hulu

Pay TV

streaming pay tv

On Tuesday, USstreaming video provider Hulu announced that it had reached 25 million subscribers, a 48% increase year on year. This was on the back of a 36% growth rate in 2017 and now means that Hulu has 44% of Netflix’s domestic subscriber numbers (Netflix Q3 2018 earnings ) and 64% of Amazon’...

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Why 2021 could kill TV, save Apple, and mark the end of ads in broadcast sports

Georgia Meyer

9 Jan 2019

domestic sports rights

English Premier League

National Football League

2021–22 are the years when the world’s most expensive premium domestic sports rights come up for renewal. In the US the NFL, MLB and NHL broadcast rights will all be up for tender, whilst in the UK the Premier League (EPL) rights will be up for renewal.

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Why music and video are crucial to Apple’s future

Mark Mulligan

7 Jan 2019

Apple

Music

Video

Apple’s downgraded earnings guidance represents its first profit warning in 10 years. This is clearly a big deal, and probably not as much to do with a weakening Chinese economy ifAlibaba’s 2018 Singles’ Day annual growth of 23% is anything to go by.

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How YouTube’s domination of streaming clips the market’s wings

Mark Mulligan

3 Jan 2019

music market

Streaming

Streaming Music

Firstly, happy new year to you all. Now on to the first post of 2019. The Article 13 debate that shaped so much of the latter part of 2018 will continue to play an important role throughout 2019 while European and then national legislators deliberate on the provision and the wider Digital Copyright ...

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Will ‘pause ads’ flourish or fail?

Georgia Meyer

3 Jan 2019

Online video

Pause Ads

ROI

AT&T and Hulu have announced a trial for a new ‘pause’ ad format, whereby ads are placed on screens the moment a user literally presses ‘pause’ on content. As consumers become more adept at avoiding unwanted advertising, these unsolicited insertions may well be seen as yet more unwelcome...

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2019 – The year the traditional TV ratings system finally crumbles

Tim Mulligan

2 Jan 2019

AC Nielsen

Nielsen

SVOD

2019 has only just begun andalready the traditional world ofthe TV ratings has sustained a heavy blow with US TV Network CBS not renewingits Nielsen contract into 2019 (per Broadcasting+Cable ). This is a significant blow in both financial and strategic terms to the public research company which is ...

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Why T-Mobile has pressed the pause button on its video disruption plans

Tim Mulligan

21 Dec 2018

Mobile content

Online video

post-net neutrality

This week it was revealed that the US’s third-largest Telco carrier, T-Mobile, was delaying the launch of its much vaunted video service into 2019. This comes after the attention-grabbing company had gone to considerable lengths to communicate the imminent launch of a telco-centric video service b...

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Media musings: Who will buy Snap Inc.?

Zach Fuller

14 Dec 2018

Media

Snap Inc

Snapchat

As outlined in our 2019 forecasting report, MIDiA predicts that Snap Inc. as we know it will be no more by the end of 2019. Its most notable asset Snapchat still has a sizeable audience among younger demographics but the company will be most likely acquired by a larger entity.

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Team Instagram: 2018’s ideological warfare

Georgia Meyer

14 Dec 2018

Instagram

Instagram Story

Marketing

For Facebook, Instagram serves three critically valuable purposes: it maintains Facebook’s connection with younger users – shielding itself from competition with Snapchat. Secondly, it is opening up crucial new revenue streams via Instagram story ads.

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Soon to be the biggest ever YouTube channel, T-Series may also be about to reshape global culture

Mark Mulligan

13 Dec 2018

Media and Marketing

YouTube

T-Series

Some time over the next month or so aYouTube landmark will bepassed: T-Series will pass PewDiePie as the most subscribed YouTube channel on the planet.As of time of writing T-Series had 75.4 millionsubscribers compared to PewDiePie’s 76.

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Knockout blow for Eleven Sports?

Alistair Taylor

13 Dec 2018

Eleven Sports

Sports

SVOD

Eleven Sports, the insurgent subscription video on demand (SVOD) service, is considering closing its operations in the UK and Ireland after failing to secure distribution via traditional TV operators (via The Telegraph ).

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Google, Facebook, and the coming big tech disruption

Tim Mulligan

12 Dec 2018

Facebook

Google

Strategy

2018 has turned out to be the year in which the seemingly invulnerable tech majors started to come unstuck. So far, Facebook has fallen the furthest in both the eyes of regulators and the general public upon whom it depends for multi-billion revenues.

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Business Strategy