Trends in digital entertainment: a multiple case study of video and digital comic service platforms

Abstract

This research involved trends in video and digital comic service platforms. Four existing video and comic players were analysed by gathering information from publicly available sources. The aim was to create a picture of the existing market by looking at the differences and similarities among the existing players. The existing players were then compared with a new upcoming service platform, which combines both videos and digital comics. Information from this player was gathered by interviewing the company behind the service.

A literature review of platforms, digital platforms and platform theories was completed, followed by a theoretical platform leading to the choice of framework for analysing the case companies. Data collection, methodology and limitations of the study are then presented. The empirical part of the study focuses on analysing the companies by using the chosen framework, leading to a picture of the current players, the upcoming player and the market situation.

The results of the study showed that many of the theories of platforms and digital platforms in previous literature are valid for today’s video and digital comic service platforms. The study emphasized the network effects between user groups. Most of the existing players were not utilizing these network effects as effectively as they could, which created an opportunity for a new market entrant.

This study is limited by the small sample size of analysed platforms. In addition, most of the data was gathered from publicly available sources, which makes the analysis less reliable. Video and digital comic service platform markets keep changing and improving at a fast pace. This means that data provided in this study might be outdated fairly quickly.