Developing a legal game plan to protect innovation in the video game industry
17/10/2007. F Jason Far-hadian Esq, principal of Century IP Group, maintains that protecting intellectual property in today's video game market is necessary to establishing a distinct competitive advantage. The author explains why.

Global entertainment and media outlook 2007-2011
12/09/2007. The global entertainment & media industry is experiencing sustained growth and will increase at a 6.4 per cent compound annual growth rate to $2tn in 2011, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. Internet, TV distribution and video games will be the fastest-growing global segments, while Brazil, Russia, India and China will emerge as principal growth drivers.

Mobile advertising needs to remember that somebody’s watching
01/08/2007. Early results from mobile advertising trials in the US and Europe send a clear message to advertisers: make it short, make it relevant, and make it beneficial. In this IVCJ article, Gilad Nass, research director, EMEA Emerging Technologies – IDC, discusses what it will take for mobile advertising to be effective and assesses the potential for failure should the wrong approach be taken.

The future of video broadcasting on the Internet: the emerging face of TV
27/06/2007. Internet video broadcasting did not achieve much popularity in its early days due to low video quality, frequent interruptions caused by limited capacity of the public Internet and low bandwidth of dial-up modems. Today, though, Internet broadcasting is getting a more enthusiastic reception. In this IVCJ article, Dror Gill, CEO of Gamdala – a consultancy specializing in mobile and multimedia technologies and services – and Eyal Niv, Managing Director at Giza Venture Capital, explain why.

Print is dead - long live print!
30/05/2007. Predictions that online media would spell the death of print have proved unfounded, says August Equity. The web's influence continues to grow but print is learning the art of re-invention.

2006 Media and information industries M&A overview
14/03/2007. Led by spreading consolidation in the Marketing & Interactive Services and Online Media sectors and aggressive competition for acquisitions by private equity buyers, M&A deal activity flourished in 2006 across the 11 media and information sectors tracked by The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc., a New York-based investment banking firm that specialises in media and information.

The Communications Industry Forecast 2006-2010
31/01/2007. Overall communications spend was pacing at an accelerated rate in 2006, driven by double-digit growth in internet media and alternative advertising and marketing, finds Veronis Suhler Stevenson. Growth will see-saw in coming years as traditional media outlets transition business models. In total, they expect media spending to surpass $1tn and increase share of GDP from 7.2 per cent to 7.5 per cent from 2005-2010.

Prime time no more: the television industry struggles against digital distribution upstarts
13/09/2006. It's open season on the television industry's business model, says Knowledge Wharton. In recent years, the three pillars of the industry's profits - advertising, regional programming and syndication deals - have come under fire from a band of technology companies, including Sling Media, TiVo, Orb Networks and Apple Computer, that are rewriting the content distribution rules.

Marketing services and technology: 2005 annual review
19/07/2006. Direct marketing industry M&A activity reached a new plateau in 2005, says Petsky Prunier. The industry recorded 469 announced transactions, which generated an estimated $46.3bn in deal value – up 65 per cent from $28.0bn in 2004.

Investing in the media
07/06/2006. Do private equity investments in the media make good sense? Ynon Kreiz, Benchmark Capital's general partner of its European funds, has industry experience with the Saban Capital Group and is co-founder of Fox Kids Europe, the European children's entertainment company. In this IVCJ article, Kreiz relates his views on the factors making for smart investing in the media industry.

Are you ready for the European on-demand entertainment mega market?
16/05/2006. In this Israel Venture Capital Journal article, Haim Oren, CEO of Oren Web Marketing examines the rapidly emerging on-demand digital European consumer and its implications for VCs and private equity firms.

Playing to win: should Israeli VCs invest in the video games market?
25/04/2006. Israel has potential to be a significant force in the video games market, maintains Allon Bloch, general partner of venture firm Jerusalem Venture Partners, in this Israel Venture Capital Journal article. But Israel is currently notably absent from the video game market ecosystem.

TV - the road ahead
04/04/2006. The TV experience is undergoing a host of changes. In this Israel Venture Capital Journal article, Ervin Leibovici, CEO of BitBand - a provider of video content distribution and delivery solutions over IP broadband networks - examines the latest trends.

Why establish a VC fund for Israeli movies?
21/03/2006. What do My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Check Point Software have in common? Although the similarity may not be apparent, says the Israel Venture Capital Journal, a film is very much like a start-up.

US entertainment and media M&A activity
21/03/2006. Convergence, shifting consumer media consumption, and private equity involvement is driving the biggest deal growth seen since 2001, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

VC opportunities in interactive entertainment
15/03/2006. Will Israeli players be able to find a niche in the fast growing computer game industry? In this Israel Venture Capital Journal article, Uri Kareev, CEO of Aiseek, a developer of hardware for accelerating artificial intelligence used by today's computer games, provides some answers.

The audience of one: transforming media businesses
20/12/2005. The European media industry is undergoing a radical transformation, says 3i. Patterns of media use are changing and innovations in communication technology are altering the landscape.

Direct marketing industry M&A sets new record in 2004
27/07/2005. Last year was a record-setting year for direct marketing industry merger and acquisition and private equity investment activity. Driven by 550 deals among direct marketing, marketing service and marketing technology companies (a six per cent increase from 2003), total industry transaction volume reached an estimated $27.2 billion in 2004, according to Petsky Prunier.

TV for everyone
26/07/2005. Digitalisation is opening up the TV market for innovative start-ups, says Wellington Partners. It takes only one number to realize how dramatically the media industry is changing: In the old analog days, it cost €2,000 to €4,000 per hour to produce programming for television. Today, you can start your own digital TV business at costs of €15 per hour.

Outsourcing is affecting all sectors of the economy
07/03/2005. Grant Murgatroyd at Kleinwort Capital looks at how outsourcing is creating opportunities in the healthcare, technology and manufacturing sectors.

Entertainment and media outlook: 2003-2007
02/07/2003.  The global media and entertainment industry is currently characterised by a sense of uncertainty. This is largely due to depressed consumer and advertising spending, combined with rapid technological change, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Entertainment and Media Outlook 2003-2007.

The brave new world of broadcasting regulation in the UK: an overview of some aspects of the Draft Communications Bill 2002
20/12/2002. New laws governing the UK broadcasting sector were announced earlier in the year, which may open up new possibilities for investors. Legal firm Gilbert & Tobin gives an overview of some aspects of the UK's Draft Communications Bill 2002, which takes another step towards a new regulatory framework for broadcasting and communications in the country.

Current issues/Future implications
03/12/2002. The media and entertainment industry is currently undergoing rapid change. Decline in advertising revenue, increasing piracy of intellectual property and significant advances in technological innovation are all having profound effects on media companies, says Terri M Santisi of KPMG Media & Entertainment practice.

Bollywood breaks loose
05/11/2002. Until recently, private equity firms have shied away from investing in the Indian media sector – it was heavily restricted by regulations on foreign investment and was an untidy and disorganised sector. VG Kulkarni of the Asian Venture Capital Journal discusses the sector's phenomenal growth and the opportunities now abounding.

Hot-wiring Hollywood
27/09/2002. Digital entertainment has been through tough times over the last couple of years with a number of high profile failures and publicised lawsuits. Julie Landry from Red Herring argues that venture capital investments are showing a renewed interest in the sector.

Global recession or reality check?
03/09/2001. UK M&A activity in the technology, media and entertainment (TME) sector fell sharply in the first half of this year. Deal value peaked in 2000 at £145bn but reached only £26bn in the first half of 2001, as shown in this survey by KPMG and Dealogic.

Broadband media: look before you leap
31/08/2001. Broadband technology, infrastructure and economics are still inadequate says this article from the McKinsey Quarterly. But on a positive note, broadcasters are far more secure from attack than they were at the dawn of the world wide web

Media Sector Insights
21/05/2003. There has been a lull in media M&A activity of late but the sector is far from dead. PricewaterhouseCoopers dispels what it believes is unfounded industry pessimism as it reviews the past year's media deals and looks forward to what 2003 has to offer.