Why revenue growth alone is not enough for the games industry

Karol Severin

4 Jan 2019

Games

games engagement

games revenue

UK games revenues rose to $4.9 billion in 2018, surpassing music and video revenues combined (per The Independent ). It is an impressive milestone, but it doesn't mean the best is yet to come. Revenues are what keep the lights on, but they are not always the best measure of the health of a sector.

min read

Read more …

Artists direct and streaming the Big Winners in 2018

Mark Mulligan

18 Dec 2018

Artists direct

DIY artists

Independent artists

With less than two weeks of 2018 left, the die is largely cast for the year, but we’ll have to wait at least a couple more months for the major labels to announce their results (though WMG still hasn’t declared its calendar Q3 results), and then another month or so for the IFPI numbers.

min read

Read more …

5G: Use Cases, Hurdles and Opportunity

Mark Mulligan

December 2018

Amazon

telco

mobile carriers

5G promises to be the next big step change both in telco business models and the digital content economy. The arrival of 5G will supercharge the business models of many companies across infrastructure and services but the outlook is less promising for others who are at risk of having their core revenue streams disrupted.

Read more …

The move toward the Cloud is real and happening in 2019

Tim Mulligan

10 Dec 2018

aws

cloud computing

Innovation

Following araft of announcements at AWS reIgnite , Amazon Web Services (AWS) held a private press and analyst session last week to talk about its new tool AWS Elemental Media Connect . This new tool allows broadcasters to securely distribute live video feeds via the cloud.

min read

Read more …

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...

min read

Read more …

SVOD Overtakes Pay-TV

Alistair Taylor

October 2018

Spotify

Amazon

Netflix

This MIDiA update showcases the monumental shift in the video landscape with signups for subscription video on demand (SVOD) services overtaking pay-TV subscriptions for the very first time in Q1 2018. SVOD has disrupted traditional linear pay-TV to the point where it is no longer the most common household subscription across the core English-speak...

Read more …

Speaker Market Shares
Amazon Ahead in a Crowded Market

Mark Mulligan

October 2018

Subscriptions

Streaming

Music Subscriptions

Digital music pushed music out of the home speaker and into the earphone. Over recent years this has created a booming market for headphones but speakers are fighting back, driven in large part by tech majors using smart speakers as a Trojan horse for expanding into the home.

Read more …

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.

min read

Read more …

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Podcasts
Riding Streaming’s Wave

Zach Fuller

October 2018

Streaming

Podcasts

Japanese podcast

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: Podcasts are Gaining Real Traction, Particularly in More Developed Streaming Markets Percentage of Consumers that Listen to Podcasts, Q1 2018 Podcast listenership is growing and could prove an important growth vehicle for streaming services.

Read more …

Google reveals interactive YouTube ad tools as it prepares to compete with Amazon

Zach Fuller

2 Oct 2018

digital advertising

Online video

social commerce

Ads on YouTube are about to get a lot more interactive. With competition from Amazon heating up, Google is doubling down on the competitive advantage of its video assets, namely YouTube’s unrivalled position as a how-to video domain, compared to Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s more premium offe...

min read

Read more …

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Home Technology
Ownership is Going Both Deep and Wide

Mark Mulligan

September 2018

Apple TV

wireless speakers

Amazon Echo

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: The Digital Home is Becoming Increasingly Sophisticated Household Ownership of Digital Technology, Q1 2018 The ‘digital home’ was a term that rose to prominence in the mid 2000s as the first generation of home router centred devices started...

Read more …

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Listening
Car Leads the Way

Mark Mulligan

September 2018

music consumption

music listening

places of listening

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: Music Listening Mainly Happens on the Go Key Places of Listening to Music, Q1 2018 The car has long been one of the heartlands of music listening and remains so with 55% of consumers engaging in this activity.

Read more …

MIDiA Data Spotlight: Music Consumption
YouTube and Radio Lead the Pack

Mark Mulligan

September 2018

Radio

YouTube

free Streaming

This is part of MIDiA’s data snapshot series in which we spotlight curated consumer datasets. Figure 1: YouTube and Radio Dominate Music Consumption Key Music Consumption and Purchasing Behaviour, Q1 2018 Music consumption and spending is more diversified than ever, with traditional formats still holding on to their loyal legacy audiences, while ...

Read more …

WhatsApp is open for business (finally!)

Georgia Meyer

8 Aug 2018

Facebook

Instagram

Messaging apps

Four years after Facebook purchased WhatsApp for $19 billion, the ubiquitous messaging app is ramping up its revenue potential with the launch last week of a suite of business tools and new advertising inventory on the app.

min read

Read more …

Is this the last broadcast TV World Cup?

Tim Mulligan

19 Jun 2018

English Premier League

FIFA

football

The football World Cup – historically the world’s biggest international sporting event by viewership, kicked off last Thursday (14 June) in Moscow, with host nation Russia dispatching Saudi Arabia 5-0.

min read

Read more …

UK Gamer Profile
Digital Entertainment Natives

Karol Severin

June 2018

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

Mobile and PC gamer penetration declined slightly in the UK between Q4 2016 and Q4 2017. Meanwhile, console ownership did not grow either, attesting that the market is constrained by the impending peak in the attention economy. It is becoming harder to compete for attention and engagement, precisely at the wrong time.

Read more …

Voice Control Devices
Early Audience Behaviours and Adoption

Zach Fuller

March 2018

Consumer behaviour

Apple

Spotify

Connected voice-control devices epitomised by the Amazon Echo have transformed from being mere curiosities of consumer electronic R&D divisions, into becoming positioned as the next hardware paradigm. With impressive growth since its November 2014 release via Amazon Prime’s US customer base, the Echo and subsequent competing voice control dev...

Read more …

The Sports Rights Bubble
Reaching The Tipping Point

Tim Mulligan

January 2018

UK

Australia

Amazon

The broadcasting of live sport has been a key part of TV’s appeal and underpins the pay-TV ecosystem. However, a combination of entrenched cord-cutting and an ageing audience means that revenues are now moving out of synch with inflating domestic sports rights costs.

Read more …

Apple Q4 (Calendar Q3) 2017
Quarterly Revenue Growth Underpins 2017 Revenue Revival

November 2017

Apple

Apple

ipad

Apple continued its sales momentum this quarter with the launch of hardware products such as iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models in September. Both smartphones have incorporated new features, such as augmented reality (AR) technology and wireless charging, to meet the demands of its pre-existing consumer base as well as to attract new users.

Read more …

Quick Take: Will PlayStation’s growing VR games catalogue move the needle for its VR hardware?

Karol Severin

1 Nov 2017

Games

PlayStation

Playstation VR

We have written on the potential of VR in the past , specifically about our concern that gaming VR headsets will not take off en masse, until there is content mix compelling enough to justify device price points.

min read

Read more …