Games and Blockchain - What is about to change in the gaming industry

MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

Article | June 8, 2021

Last year the luxury fashion sector saw a lot of online chatter around men’s fashion, and some of the biggest conversation triggers were the same social movement – breaking gender stereotypes and fighting against toxic masculinity. Many brands and celebrities joined this cause last year and spread their influence through fashion and pop culture.

MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

Article | May 21, 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, independent artists are the fastest-growing sector of the music market. User-generated content (UGC) has proved a huge success during lockdown for the likes of TikTok and Roblox. The traditional brand celebrity spokesperson has ceded ground to the influencer, and even they to the micro-influencer. Content proliferation has driven increasingly niche content to niche audiences, finding smaller fan bases to resonate with instead of attempting the now nigh-impossible cut-through to mainstream popularity. This is the paradox of small: the long tail accounts for a growing share of content consumption, but the fractional economics of on-demand environments means that those in the long tail earn too little to be economically sustainable. Access to the means of distribution may have been democratised, but access to meaningful rights income has not.

VIRTUALIZATION

Article | June 4, 2021

Discovery CEO David Zaslav has proposed that the new combined Discovery / Warner Media entity will be known as Warner Bros. Discovery. This is a recognition that leveraging brand equity will be crucial for the new-combined entity to successfully compete in the increasingly crowded direct-to-consumer (D2C) video streaming landscape. Zaslav is successfully absorbing a key lesson from Disney+’s meteoric rise to 103.6 million subscribers in less than two years since its launch: leverage deep consumer brand equity for D2C success.

Article | April 14, 2020

Since their foundation in the 1970s and 80s, video games have moved from fringe interest to a major media staple. The industry has enjoyed huge revenues from dedicated fans, especially over the past few months, and the growth shows no sign of slowing down. Gaming is also an industry renowned for its commitment to innovation, adopting technological developments and spawning a fair few of its own. Chief amongst technological developments over the last decade has been blockchain technology, the new system of trading and ownership built on transparency and decentralization, the standard-bearer of which is the digital currency.