Kwebbelkop and WatchMeForever
Novelty appeal or AI revolutionaries?
Kwebbelkop and WatchMeForever
Ben Woods
Ben is one of MIDiA's video analysts. His focus spans social video, media fusion trends, video streaming services, merchandising and live sport.
How AI can empower creators by cutting through content saturation
When YouTube’s chief executive Neal Mohan recently revealed a suite of AI tools to support creators, he aimed to drastically reduce the time it takes to produce content. Among those innovations were...
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Why YouTube should disrupt streaming TV’s love affair with TikTok
It has become a tried and tested tactic for streaming TV services: Take the exclusive show you want to promote, drop the first episode on social media for free, and hope it motivates audiences enough to...
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Why Netflix should become a channel distributor for its streaming rivals
Long-running legal drama Suits has become a bittersweet tale for NBCUniversal. The show that gave Meghan Markle her pre-royalty taste of stardom was already considered a commercial success after its final...
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Cannibalisation is inevitable for YouTube as the attention economy bites
When YouTube launched Shorts in 2021, the social video platform was knowingly risking de-stabilising its core business. The rationale behind launching a short-form video offer was that the risk of not...
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BlackPink, superfans and the video game threat to social video and streaming TV
Being an entertainment fan in the modern era can be a disjointed experience. Take Star Wars . A fan of the long-standing sci-fi franchise must invest significant amounts of time and money across multiple...
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Innovation feature concept
Building a dynamic social ad experience on FAST
The FAST advantage
Build sustainable consumer models
Inflation and retention pressures are combining to make free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) an appealing go-to-market strategy for video distributors.FAST is still underperforming significantly in engagement...
DAZN bets on sports streaming future being driven by fandom
The streaming-TV industry has an engagement question to answer. Of late, the dominant services have been preoccupied with soothing investor concerns over the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on subscriptions....
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Live sport 2.0
Capturing younger audiences with the creator economy
The funding model for live sports has created fissures between older viewers who can afford to pay a premium for live access and younger audiences who either cannot, or do not want to. While older generations...
The Kings League
A sporting competition for the lean-in generation
Authenticity is at the heart of the video podcast
Video and audio platforms have been equally aggressive when treading upon each others’ turf. The platform flexibility of smartphones and smart TVs has created the opportunity for entertainment companies...
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Telly’s challenge to the smartphone opens a new front in the second screen wars
Rarely does a new product manage to redefine its market. In 2007, the launch of the iPhone caused a seismic shift when Apple transformed the mobile phone from a device for calls and texts to an entertainment...
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Are streaming TV services poised to become pay TV channels in all but name?
The streaming TV landscape is changing rapidly. Leading entertainment industry executives are questioning every aspect of the subscription video on-demand (SVOD) model in pursuit of sustainable profits....
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Amazon Prime Video’s spy drama Citadel forges a new frontier in product placement
Product placement has a long history helping film and TV producers maximise the monetisation of their content. The use of products by Hollywood stars to promote brands dates backs to the 1920s when Red...
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Burnishing the back catalogue
Retention in an inflationary era
With inflation squeezing commissioning budgets, streaming-TV services are battling to demonstrate value to consumers who risk churning under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis. The big spend on new...
PlayPilot
How social media behaviours can tackle the tyranny of choice
Meta’s VR push should focus on the reality of the average consumer
The tipping point for virtual reality headsets remains elusive. Last year’s market hype around the metaverse suggested widespread adoption was within reach, only for Sony to reportedly dial down its...
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Community and influencers are poised to lead a video monetisation revolution
Streaming TV and social video services are enduring a bout of uncertainty from high inflation and sluggish economic growth. Traditional monetisation strategies that have underpinned these platforms are...
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Netflix’s risk averse strategy is right for the retention age
Netflix is known for its fearless approach to financing new movies and shows. And yet the recent flurry of press coverage suggests the streaming TV service behind Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is now...
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