Media & Entertainment

eMarketer analyst Blake Droesch, principal analyst Jeremy Goldman, and forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Peter Vahle discuss whether the Super Bowl delivered, what's fueling Spotify, how the podcast and social media worlds are blurring together, if reducing politics in the News Feed can help Facebook, why the shopping mall might make a comeback, what is the most relaxing song ever (statistically), and more.

Twitter upgrades its Clubhouse competitor Spaces: Twitter's rapid expansion into audio and ability to leverage its already-massive user base could see it become a worthy competitor to the up-and-coming audio social network.

Google to pay News Corp.: It’s a major concession in the battle to make tech giants pay publishers, and with Google now agreeing to pay for news in Australia, we could see similar deals struck in the future.

After the COVID-19 shock of H1 2020, everyday life in China has gradually returned to the pre-pandemic norm, and economic activities have been on the rebound.

The convergence of media and commerce is inching closer. Nearly a year after adding a direct checkout feature to its platform, NBCUniversal is investing further in the commerce space.

Early in the pandemic, digital audio took a huge hit in user engagement and in the amount of time listeners were spending with the medium. Many observers, including us, predicted dire results in the short term. However, the rest of the year played out very differently than those early weeks, and we ultimately revised our 2020 estimate from a 1.0% decline in the time US adults spent with digital audio to 8.3% growth, for a total of 1 hour, 29 minutes (1:29) per day.

eMarketer principal analysts Jeremy Goldman and Jillian Ryan, along with senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Sara M. Watson, discuss what a reimagined workplace looks like, The New York Times digital transformation, what big tech can expect from the Biden Administration, whether the world is getting less colorful, podcasts as a direct line to consumers, how many people live underwater, and more.

Disney+ hit its subscriber goal four years ahead of schedule: It hit 94.9 million subscribers at the end of last quarter as original content drove viewership in the US and cricket boomed in India.

Early in 2020, as the pandemic was getting underway, Americans flocked to their TV sets at a rate unseen in years. Initially, US households were glued to the news, as uncertainty over the coronavirus drove viewership. In the following weeks, the TVs mostly stayed on, as the initial wave of lockdowns kept Americans stuck on the couch with lots of new time to kill.

In this episode, the 'Behind the Numbers' crew new and old—former eMarketer principal analyst and now vice president of content studio Paul Verna, former eMarketer senior analyst and now market strategy manager at Spotify Bryan Yeager, director of content studio Daniel Caridi, director of report editing Rahul Chadha, and podcast host Marcus Johnson tell the story of how and why 'Behind the Numbers' got started, our favorite episodes, and what we expect the future of podcasting to look like. We hope you enjoy. And thank you so much to everyone who's ever listened for helping to make this show what it is.

Facebook’s replication station: The company is reportedly developing a Clubhouse dupe for its own portfolio, attempting to cash in on the audio app’s nascent popularity.

New feud is brewing in the broadcast world: Dish’s Sling TV added new local channels through a deal with Locast in a step that goes against arguments the free over-the-air broadcaster has made for itself against TV networks in the past, all while the company is embroiled in a lawsuit with those very networks.

Magnite furthers its CTV plans: The company aims to become the largest independent connected TV (CTV) advertising platform through its Spot X acquisition.

eMarketer principal analysts Jeremy Goldman and Jillian Ryan, along with junior analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch, discuss the work-from-anywhere future, how this years' Super Bowl will be unique, why some retailers are skipping returns, Spotify's emotion-based recommendations, what customers want from chatbots, the ideal length of time you should dunk your Oreo in milk, and more.

The New York Times gets closer to its digital transformation goals: The company reported a big increase in digital-only subscriptions, an outlook indicating it’ll keep betting on that ringer.