Podcasting has grown into a substantial media category. Yet the economics behind it remain poorly understood — by most listeners, and by plenty of aspiring podcasters too. Understanding who actually makes money, and how, reveals a business model far more complex and far more unequal than casual observation suggests. The Concentration of Revenue Among Top … Read more

Free-to-play mobile games generate enormous revenue despite requiring no upfront payment from players, and understanding the actual business model behind this dominant category reveals some fascinating, if occasionally ethically fraught, insight into digital product design and monetization more broadly. The Core Insight Behind Free-to-Play Economics Free-to-play games operate on a simple core insight – removing … Read more

Streaming did not just change how people listen to music – it fundamentally restructured the underlying economics of the entire music industry, in ways that are still playing out and reshaping how artists, labels, and platforms make decisions today. Understanding this shift explains a lot about why the modern music landscape looks so different from … Read more