Infographic: Mission possible: Eliminate points of OTT failure

MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

Article | May 28, 2021

Video streaming services have achieved mainstream engagement, with binge viewing now eclipsing linear TV viewing as the leading form of TV show consumption. While the digital disruptors may revel in their newfound status as the masters of TV consumption, and the TV and film industry are forced to adapt to this new reality, a subtler shift in mindset needs to occur. Streaming services, led by subscription video on demand (SVOD) hegemon Netflix, still operate in the mindset of having a digital native consumer base. For these streaming incumbents, the success of SVOD still rests upon their ability to appeal to younger consumer bases who have a) grown up in a digital environment, and b) are by definition young and eager for new and constantly evolving consumer experiences. Add to this the post-second world war presumption that popular entertainment should always be youth-centric focused, and streaming is still de-facto a youth-orientated proposition.

MEDIA AND BROADCASTING

Article | June 22, 2021

The appointment of Lina Khan on June 15th to chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is poised to be a transformational one in the history of the world wide web. Khan came to prominence with an article in the Yale Law Journal, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox, which identified the paradox of hegemonic tech service providers which bypass the US’ strict competition laws by offering lower prices to the end consumer. Under US antitrust law, the driving indicator of market monopolies are higher prices for the consumer – under this strict definition, none of the tech majors which dominate the digital economy are monopolistic. Indeed, some such as Alphabet and Facebook do not even directly charge the end user for their services. So, while both Google and Facebook dominate the global digital ad market, making an antitrust case against them under the current 20thcentury era regulatory framework is nigh on impossible. However, the absence of meaningful competitive challengers to these two incumbents in search and social advertising over the previous 15 years, despite the lucrative high margin business opportunities, implies that the competitive market is not performing according to classical economic theory. Khan has built a subsequent career on trying to square this circle, and now the Biden Administration has empowered her as the key instigator of the sweeping regulatory update required for a digital-first century.

VIRTUALIZATION

Article | June 30, 2021

Over the last few months Instagram has done its best to capitalise on the latest social media success tactics, often at the cost of its own original user proposition. The photo-sharing app for friends now offers Reels, imitating TikTok’s success. It has rolled out an option to hide Likes, the iconic feature which has characterised social media as a whole since inception. And it now is introducing ‘suggested posts’ to users’ feeds, sorted by topics a profile states they are interested in – potentially putting these ahead of photos and videos shared by profiles they actually follow. Directly mimicking TikTok, this seems to diverge very little in practice from hashtags, which are its original discovery feature. Instead, it seems to want to emulate the usability which younger users are familiar with from TikTok, in order to entice them to increase their Instagram engagement.

Article | April 27, 2020

Ever since the Oculus Rift was first introduced, people have wanted a Mirror’s Edge VR game. Years later, Stride looks to deliver where EA hasn’t. The first footage for Stride, which debuted over the weekend, promises essentially a VR doppelganger of DICE’s beloved series. Players hop between rooftops using parkour, avoiding enemy gunfire and taking opponents down as they go. But while the game sounds similar to Mirror’s Edge, it looks practically identical; bleached-white buildings are peppered with vibrantly-highlighted objects you can use for progression.