Blog: Subscriptions

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the digital entertainment world. Check out the latest from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage - games, video, music, audio, social, or critical developments.

A model for a new music streaming industry

Cover image for A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue...

min read

Subscriptions are not the future of podcast monetisation

Cover image for Subscriptions are not the future of podcast monetisation

Rutger Rosenborg

15 Oct 2024

As markets fragment and niches grow, the need for meaningful, high-value exchanges between creators and their followers has never been more pressing. Yet, only a select few creators manage to transform...

min read

TikTok’s creator subscriptions point to the future of social platforms

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Hanna Kahlert

1 Oct 2024

It’s been a big week for TikTok. On the heels of shutting down its music streaming service , the platform has announced an expansion of its creator subscription program. In addition to existing LIVE...

min read

As Big Tech courts everyone, niche platforms must understand podcast purists

Cover image for As Big Tech courts everyone, niche platforms must understand podcast purists

Rutger Rosenborg

10 Sep 2024

As boundaries fall, borders blur, and digital goods and services are increasingly decoupled from per-unit value, the mass consumer will turn to low-friction applications that do everything and offer everything....

min read

Can subscriptions keep the lights on for social?

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Hanna Kahlert

19 Oct 2023

User generated content

Digital advertising has long been the financial backbone of the digital world. It has underpinned the business models of the likes of Google and Meta, and its absence has been the value proposition of...

min read

Are subscriptions the future of social apps?

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Hanna Kahlert

22 Feb 2023

When Elon Musk took over Twitter, he was publicly faced with a seemingly impossible ask: make the iconic, culture-defining, long-standing social app (consistently) profitable. At the time of acquisition,...

min read

Blue ticks and adverts and meta (AI)!

Cover image for Blue ticks and adverts and meta (AI)!

Ashleigh Millar

14 Feb 2023

Media and Marketing

Marketing Strategy

Another Super Bowl Sunday (and half-time show) has left us as quickly as it arrived. [SPOILER] Chiefs won 38 to 35, Rihanna’s “surprise guest” was in fact her baby bump, and Fox Sports reported that...

min read

The streaming wars will be won with technology, not content

Cover image for The streaming wars will be won with technology, not content

Ben Woods

31 Jan 2023

The modern entertainment industry is a tale of re-invention. The need for vast amounts of content to justify the value of a subscription video on-demand (SVOD) service has made the artists, series, and...

min read

How Apple’s commission is reconfiguring Spotify’s audiobook strategy

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Annie Langston

23 Nov 2022

Spotify’s audiobook rollout has hit a major roadblock. Spotify debuted its service in September as a la carte , where users purchased audiobooks individually. In order to avoid Apple’s 30% commission...

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Video streamers batten down the hatches, the social subscription revolution is coming

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Ben Woods

25 Oct 2022

Social media companies have been happy to ride the tumultuous waves of digital advertising regardless of the market dominance of Google and Facebook. Arguments for tweaking the business model have always...

min read

Apple’s latest podcasting moves poke holes in Spotify’s strategy

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Annie Langston

24 Aug 2022

Apple has been quieter than its other podcast competitors in the past, but it is continuing to develop its audio offerings. Apple’s most noteworthy attempt to expand its platform thus far was introducing...

min read

Are we headed towards subscription fatigue?

Cover image for Are we headed towards subscription fatigue?

Hanna Kahlert

21 Jul 2022

When streaming first made headway in the entertainment world, it shifted the very dynamic of consumption. Ownership became a status symbol of yester-year; access to everything, at all times , was the new...

min read

Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Cover image for Why games could be the winning entertainment sector as disposable income tightens

Karol Severin

28 Apr 2022

attention recession

Inflation, as well as macroeconomic and geopolitical developments (from Brexit, through chasing Covid-induced debt, right up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine) will likely drive disposable income (and...

min read

Podcast subscriptions are a key territory for the audio market

Cover image for Podcast subscriptions are a key territory for the audio market

Annie Langston

12 Apr 2022

Podcast subscriptions offer both a direct revenue stream for audio creators and provide fans with an amplified audio experience. Despite the percentage that the subscription services take from the earrings,...

min read

When will we reach peak subscription?

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Tatiana Cirisano

31 Jan 2022

Creator economy

Earlier this month, Instagram and TikTok both began testing subscription models where users offer their followers paid access to exclusive content, following in the footsteps of platforms like Twitch,...

min read

Why Instagram is climbing aboard the subscription bandwagon

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Ashleigh Millar

21 Jan 2022

Meta has announced that, following the success that came from its ‘fan subscriptions’ (now called ‘Subscriptions’) trial in June 2020, it will be testing the subscription model on Instagram via...

min read

Creator consolidation: Fender becomes the next creator tools major

Cover image for Creator consolidation: Fender becomes the next creator tools major

Kriss Thakrar

2 Nov 2021

music production

independent artists

When Francisco Partners brought together Native Instruments and Izotope, it created the first creator tool major . Now a second player has staked its claim: Fender has made one of the biggest creator tools...

min read

The subscription market model has now taken over consumption, but will it reach a saturation point?

Cover image for The subscription market model has now taken over consumption, but will it reach a saturation point?

Hanna Kahlert

25 Jun 2021

When the balance of Netflix’s value proposition swung from mail-delivered DVDs to the then-mind-blowing idea of a streaming service, the implications stretched far wider than for the movie and TV industry....

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UGC vs. Premium: Is the video valuation bubble big enough to burst?

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Hanna Kahlert

21 May 2021

The market disconnect between the proliferation of independent content creators and the consolidation of brand IP into the hands of ever-fewer major players is growing increasingly stark. On the one hand,...

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Can LiveScore learn valuable lessons from Eleven Sports’ UK failings?

Cover image for Can LiveScore learn valuable lessons from Eleven Sports’ UK failings?

Alistair Taylor

24 Aug 2020

streaming service

Streaming insurgent LiveScore launched its first ever over-the-top (OTT), ad-supported direct-to-consumer (D2C) streaming proposition in the UK back in June, harbouring a similar rights portfolio to that...

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