In a debate that, perhaps understandably due the pandemic, has often been characterized more by anecdote than by evidence, facts assume even greater importance. So it’s significant that a study by an objective, evidence-led regulator has rejected many claims made about the streaming market in its preliminary conclusions
Source: ‘Streaming challenges can be met only by artists and labels working together.’
Source: Beyoncé Releases Album ‘Renaissance’: Can She Break the New Music Curse?
The DOJ lawsuit to block the Simon & Schuster-Penguin Random House merger alleges harm to consumers — the standard claim that the government has been making for decades in antitrust cases — in the form of less variety and fewer books. But that wasn’t prosecutors’ main theory of the case. They press arguments that the deal will harm workers by giving the newly merged entity “outsized influence over who and what is published and how much authors are paid for their work.”
Source: As Feds Take Aim at Books Megadeal, Their Tactics May Be Used Against Hollywood
So far in 2022, nine of the 10 biggest grossing films are either sequels or part of a franchise. New research from Roku — America’s No. 1 TV streaming platform in terms of hours streamed — shows that a franchise’s full catalog sees the benefits of a theatrical release even when it falls short of a box office blowout, presenting a big marketing opportunity for both studios and streaming services.
Source: Summer Blockbusters Have a Halo Effect on Streaming Catalog Films
After stalling for the first time in this year’s first quarter, the number of U.S. households with subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) subscriptions rose by two percentage points quarter-over-quarter in Q2, according to Kantar’s Entertainment on Demand Service. Netflix’s share of households continued to decline in Q2, to 61%. Part of that is due to Amazon Prime Video, which grabbed the largest share of new U.S. SVOD subscribers (20.5%).
Many media companies are still grappling with how many resources they should devote to their metaverse research and strategy. The latest data from Morning Consult shows that there’s still low awareness of the metaverse among U.S. adults; simultaneously, U.S. adults are more interested in entertainment-related activities in the metaverse than those related to other industries.
Netflix is angling to win over a new bloc of value-conscious consumers with a new ad-supported streaming package set to debut in early 2023. “We’ll likely start in a handful of markets where advertising spend is significant,” Netflix said in its Q2 letter to shareholders. “Like most of our new initiatives, our intention is to roll it out, listen and learn, and iterate quickly to improve the offering.”
Source: Netflix Aims to Launch Cheaper, Ad-Supported Plan in Early 2023
Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook is reallocating resources from its Facebook News tab and newsletter platform Bulletin, as the company focuses more on the creator economy, senior executive Campbell Brown told employees in a memo. Ms. Brown, who leads Facebook’s global media partnerships, said the company would shift engineering and product support away from the two products as “those teams heighten their focus on building a more robust Creator economy.”
Source: WSJ News Exclusive | Facebook Shifts Resources From News to Focus on Creator Economy
Current music in the United States isn’t just losing market share. It’s actually getting statistically less popular. That’s according to a new midyear report published by US market monitor Luminate (formerly MRC Data / Nielsen Music). It shows that ‘Total Album Consumption’ of ‘Current’ recorded music in the United States in the first half of 2022 fell 1.4% in volume versus the equivalent metric from the same period of 2021.
Source: It’s official: New music is SHRINKING in popularity in the United States
In May, reports surfaced that Facebook, eyeing market instability and a fierce new challenger in TikTok, was reevaluating its practice of paying news publishers to participate in its News tab. The reversal mirrored another change in strategy from the company when, in August 2021, it announced plans to further diminish the visibility of political news in its users’ feeds.