Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

Niche is the way forward: DSP’s need function, not features

Hanna Kahlert

14 Sep 2023

It has never been easier to become a music creator. But, it has arguably never been harder to remain one as a full-time career. There are a whole host of reasons behind this, not least of which is a streaming...

min read

Cannibalisation is inevitable for YouTube as the attention economy bites

Ben Woods

13 Sep 2023

social video

youtube shorts

YouTube

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...

min read

As Sam Ryder cuts to the chase, the question is do all artists become indie?

Keith Jopling

7 Sep 2023

Streaming

music industry

Creator Economy

Like everyone, I have a basket of core artists I am a dedicated fan of. But there is a wider group of artists I follow and am always intrigued about, both musically and in terms of their career trajectory....

min read

How to make artist centric artist centric

Mark Mulligan

6 Sep 2023

Streaming Royalties

Music Streaming

Music Royalties

Deezer and UMG announced a major (in both senses of the word) shake up of streaming music royalties. This is arguably the biggest streaming market development in years, as it will set the tone for market-wide...

min read

Misaligned incentives make the music business a zero-sum game

Tatiana Cirisano

17 Aug 2023

record labels

streaming services

Music creators

“Pop Stars Aren’t Popping Like They Used To”, Billboard ’s Elias Leight writes in a recent article, in which record label executives stress over the struggle to break new artists. The article (or...

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Alex Cooper’s new podcast network questions her future at Spotify and fuels competition for creators

Annie Langston

16 Aug 2023

Alex Cooper

Spotify

gen z

Call Her Daddy’s Alex Cooper has launched her own podcast network. A subsidiary of Trending , the media company Cooper launched earlier this year, The Unwell Network is targeting Gen Z audiences. In...

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For Sony's games division, add-on content is the one to watch

Karol Severin

16 Aug 2023

Sony

in-game monetisation

Games

Sony reported its Q1 FY2023 results last week. The Gaming & Network Services (G&NS) segment was up 27.8% on last year. At the same time, however, operating income was down 6.83%. This segment had...

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The FAST advantage
Build sustainable consumer models

Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

August 2023

Streaming

Amazon

Netflix

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...

Music’s podcast potential
Focus on branding over discovery

Cover image for Music’s podcast potential

Annie Langston

August 2023

labels

Streaming

artists

In this hyper-fragmented entertainment consumption space, artists and labels must use every tool available to break out above the noise. Artists must diversify their content to not only promote their music,...

Why streaming and AI disruption is unlikely to have a Hollywood ending

Tim Mulligan

8 Aug 2023

AI

Writers Strike

Actor's Strike

With the writers’ strike nearing 100 days long, there is still no end in sight to the first industrial dispute of the streaming era. Both the studios and screenwriters met last Friday and failed to reach...

min read

DAZN bets on sports streaming future being driven by fandom

Ben Woods

3 Aug 2023

SVOD

streaming tv

merchandise

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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Spotify’s Q2 podcast financials: Things may get worse before they get better

Annie Langston

2 Aug 2023

Spotify

Podcasts

Exclusive

Spotify’s Q2 earnings are a mixed bag for its podcast business. On one hand, monthly active users (MAUs) grew to 551 million, with 10 million new premium subscribers (bringing that total to 220 million),...

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Why managing Disney’s streaming transition requires leadership in depth

Tim Mulligan

1 Aug 2023

Walt Disney

Kevin Mayer

Tom Staggs

2023 was supposed to be about the 100thanniversary of the Walt Disney Company and the celebration of a media major driving streaming and intellectual property (IP) innovation. Instead, it has become a...

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The X rebrand is Twitter’s Meta moment… but there’s already a Meta

Hanna Kahlert

26 Jul 2023

twitter

threads

libra

Meta’s launch of Threads has been the biggest challenger to Twitter’s social standing to date, with record-breaking uptake in its first weekend. However, Twitter still had an edge: an online culture...

min read

Competing in the live service games sector is about to get really difficult

Karol Severin

25 Jul 2023

report

live service games

saturated landscape

With the advent of in-game purchases, live service games have gradually become an important fuel of the games industry’s growth. Their sheer success and the appeal of the business model have understandably...

min read

Making sense of global music forecasts

Mark Mulligan

20 Jul 2023

music forecasts

streaming music forecasts

streamign music revenues

MIDiA has been building global music forecasts for nearly a decade now, and I personally have been building them for nearly two decades. Throughout those years there have been many calls for the numbers...

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Tipping point
The coming consolidation of live service games

Karol Severin and Perry Gresham

July 2023

ariana grande

Call of Duty

FIFA

The games industry has become addicted to the promise of lower risk and better ROI from live service games. As a result, there has been a flurry of live service titles released over the last 10 years....

Microsoft’s big win against the FTC

Karol Severin

13 Jul 2023

Microsoft

m&a

Activision Blizzard

Microsoft has won its case against the FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction to halt or terminate the deal. There is still an ongoing antitrust case by the FTC against Microsoft, but now the acquisition...

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We asked, you answered: Will Spotify renew Joe Rogan’s contract?

Annie Langston

12 Jul 2023

Joe Rogan

Spotify

Exclusive

Last week, MIDiA polled readers on their predictionsfor the future of Joe Rogan’s Spotify contract. Signed to Spotify in 2020 for reportedly over $200 million, Rogan helped cement the platform’s audio...

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The future is interoperability: Why Threads could beat Twitter through the Fediverse

Hanna Kahlert

12 Jul 2023

Strategy

Business Strategy