2021 was a year of uncertainty in public health, supply chains and geopolitics. But amid all the uncertainty came a greater clarity about the overall trends of the entertainment and media (E&M) market, the forces driving growth, and an understanding of the fault lines and fractures forming in consumer behaviours, business models, competitors and regulations.
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But the stable overall growth pattern masks an underlying volatility. It is clear that the pandemic accelerated changes in consumer behaviour and digital adoption in ways that will affect future growth trajectories. Some of the sectors that saw immense gains amid the pandemic will not be able to sustain that growth, while others will continue to build from their higher bases. Some formerly niche sectors, such as gaming, will barrel their way into prominence, as other formerly dominant sectors will see their competitive positions erode. This year, the focus of our report is the fault lines and fractures that are opening up between entertainment and media industries and companies, within sectors, and between high-growth and low-growth geographies.
After falling 2.3% in 2020, total global entertainment and media (E&M) revenue rose a strong 10.4% in 2021, resuming its trend of outpacing global growth. In 2022, the US$2.5tn global industry is expected to grow 7.3%, and it should notch a 4.6% CAGR through 2026.
The medium most favoured by the young, video games, is among the sectors experiencing the most significant growth. In 2021, total video games revenue (excluding esports) reached US$214.2bn, and it will rise at an 8.4% CAGR to US$321.1bn in 2026. (The sector is one of just three to add more than US$100bn in revenue to its base over the forecast period; the others are internet advertising and internet access). In 2017, global video games made up a mere 6.1% of total E&M spending. By 2026, they will account for 10.9% as the niche becomes more mainstream. Revenues will be bolstered by rapidly increasing investment in in-app advertising. China and the US accounted for around half of global gaming and esports revenues in 2021. But many of the populous but less wealthy countries have lots of room for growth. Turkey will be the fastest-growing video games market between 2021 and 2026 (with a 24.1% CAGR), followed by Pakistan (21.9%) and India (18.3%). Gaming, with its immersive experiences and virtual items, is also paving the way to the metaverse and the next generation of digital advertising, entertainment and brand experiences.
Today, apps can come and go very quickly. The audio chat app Clubhouse experienced explosive growth in the first months of the pandemic, notching 34 million downloads, but faded rapidly in 2021. And it is now clear, for the first time, that there seems to be a limit to the growth of juggernaut platforms or apps such as Facebook and Netflix, as they may lose their ability to attract and retain attention in a world of rapidly evolving preferences and shrinking attention spans.
Market tensions in the entertainment and media industry and declining share prices of many of the largest players, coupled with the potential for reduced investments on the part of private equity and venture capital, are likely to change the landscape. The assumption that throwing large sums of money at content creation to feed direct-to-consumer offerings will be enough to produce both massive growth and profit at scale is now in doubt. As a result, questions are arising as to what the next phase of growth will be.
"We go through a process of innovation and continuous improvement to maximize the value of our games and bring users around the world premium experiences with our games and rich entertainment content," said William Ding, Chief Executive Officer and Director of NetEase. "Our company has transformed from its modest origin as a Chinese internet company. Today we are realizing our worldwide vision with an exciting pipeline of online games for a global audience."
The World of Warcraft launcher (referred to in press releases and the menu bar as the "Blizzard Launcher") is a program designed to act as a starting point for World of Warcraft players. It provides a way to launch World of Warcraft and starts the Blizzard updater. It was first included with the version 1.8.3 patch. The 2.1.0 patch allowed for an option to bypass the use of the launcher. Features of the launcher include news and updates for World of Warcraft players, access to World of Warcraft's support website, access to the test version of World of Warcraft when it is available to test upcoming patches, updates to Warden,[65] and updates to the updater itself. The 3.0.8 patch redesigned the launcher and added the ability to change the game settings from the launcher itself. The launcher update from patch 4.0.1 also allows people to play the game while non-crucial pieces of the game are downloaded. This requires a high-speed broadband internet connection.
Starting with 4.3,[71] players could try out an experimental 64-bit version of the client, which required manual downloading and copying files into the installation folder. Since 5.0, the 64-bit client is automatically installed, and used by default.
In September 2006, reports emerged of spoof World of Warcraft game advice websites that contained malware. Vulnerable computers would be infected through their web browsers, downloading a program that would then relay back account information. Blizzard's account support teams experienced high demand during this episode, stating that many users had been affected. Claims were also made that telephone support was closed for isolated periods due to the volume of calls and resulting queues.[125] In April 2007, attacks evolved to take advantage of further exploits involving animated cursors, with multiple websites being used.[126][127] Security researcher group Symantec released a report stating that a compromised World of Warcraft account was worth US$10 on the black market, compared to US$6 to US$12 for a compromised computer (correct as of March 2007).[128] In February 2008, phishing emails were distributed requesting that users validate their account information using a fake version of the World of Warcraft account management pages.[129] In June 2008, Blizzard announced the Blizzard Authenticator, available as a hardware security token or mobile application[130] that provides two-factor security. The token generates a one-time password based code that the player supplies when logging on. The password, used in addition to the user's own password, is only valid for a couple of minutes, thus providing extra security against keylogging malware.[131]
Prior to running Breitbart News and joining the Trump campaign and administration, Steve Bannon found a political audience in World of Warcraft players. He was involved in Internet Gaming Entertainment, a company that employed World of Warcraft "gold farmers" whose gold would be resold for real money, which introduced Bannon to what he saw as "rootless, white males" with "monster power" even prior to the rise of Reddit. He built Breitbart into a far-right news and entertainment website in part by hiring Milo Yiannopoulos to pursue disaffected gamers.[162] 2ff7e9595c
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