Hey everyone - welcome to the 90th (and final) instalment of The SEG3 Report for 2025. We’ll be back in your inboxes in early January!

But before that, we’re focusing in on the 5 key takeaways from last week’s SEG3 LA, and how they can help guide your 2026 strategies.

So for the final time in 2025, let’s get into it! ⤵️

SEG3 LA 2025 Highlights ⤵️

The Top 5 Takeaways from SEG3 LA

For the show, we designed 17 sessions to cover what we see as the major topics/themes that every fandom based business needs to be laser focused on - this being everything from franchise building, to dealmaking, UGC monetisation strategies, culture marketing and much, much more.

Below, we’ve tried to distill all of last weeks discussions into five key takeaways, which can hopefully be helpful in guiding your strategies for 2026. These being:

1. Creation is no longer the bottleneck

Core idea:
We’ve moved from a world of scarce creation to infinite creation - and that changes everything.

Key insights:

• Creation tools have been fully democratised; everyone is/can be a creator now.
  

• Because of that, the real bottleneck now is discovery, attention and distribution, not the supply of content.
  

• User acquisition is expensive and unreliable - lean into the network effects that creators and communities can bring.
  
  → Infringement is inevitable in a remix economy; retroactive licensing and micro-licensing are going to be key strategies to correcting that infringement.
  

• Short-form, clipping and share-ability are becoming the new top of funnel - and with that, distribution is having to be factored into development, production & creative much earlier in the process.
  
  → The playbook is now:
  
  Play → Create → Share → Community → Retention → Revenue
  

• Creators are an integral part of that discovery puzzle.
  
  → They are no longer just amplifiers of marketing moments; they’ve become the centre of the experience - driving discovery and traction, with communities aggregating around them.

Why it matters

When creation is unlimited, attention becomes the true scarce resource. Brands that still optimise for output over distribution (rather than output + distribution) risk being invisible, no matter how good the content is.

Winning now requires designing for discovery from day one - building with creators, community and share-ability in mind, rather than treating them as add-ons after launch.

2. IP is still the moat - but there’s a lot of nuance

Core idea:
IP still carries significant weight, but only if you protect its DNA when moving it into new mediums, and evolve it responsibly to continually engage the next-generations.

Key insights:

• Rights fragmentation is the new normal (i.e. theatrical rights, interactive rights, LBE rights etc), but decisions must be made with a 5-10 year lens to protect your long-term interests.
  
  → Alignment on product and franchise strategy becomes critical; poorly structured deals risk cannibalising value across the wider portfolio.
  

• IP owners care more about creative control and whether you’ll be a good steward of their story than just the commercials
  
  → “They need to know you care before they care what you know”

• M&A and partnerships are about speed, expertise and execution - not just assets.
  
  → IP/Content still has a moat because of loyal fanbases around them; this makes the focus around data and technology partnerships/investments become “how can they help you leverage that IP”.
  

Why it matters

The winners won’t be those who extract value fastest, but those who build long-term narrative equity and trust with fans.

3. Fandom is the engine, and it’s NOT passive

Core idea:
Fandom isn’t built transactionally. It’s got to be participatory, emotional and needs to be nurtured continuously.

Key insights

• “The reality about fandom is that if you do it well, they tell 10 - if you do it badly, they tell 1000”.
  

• Franchises are built on identity, emotion, lore and mythology.
  
  → Protect the DNA at all costs - new opportunities must add to the broader story, not dilute it.
  
  → Not all IP should become franchises. Lifecycle management matters, and cultural relevance can disappear quickly in a creator-led world.
  

• Loyalty programs can’t just focus on discounts - they need to create new value.
  
  → If loyalty = discounts, that can be a cost-centre; but what value/revenue can it unlock from the increase in first-party data & from partners.
  

• Culture marketing means understanding what shared values a community has, not just moments.
  
  → Look beyond the obvious - the strongest opportunities to connect with your fans are often come from adjacent passions. Get creative.
  

• Sports still has the unique benefit of being live, unscripted drama & tribal.
  
  → But there needs to be a rethink around rights and partnerships to attract brands to officially partner vs just supporting the culture built around the sport or franchise.

Why it matters

Fandom fuels franchises, and bad experiences travel further than good ones. When people care, they talk, share, and connect.

Treat that relationship with care and respect, and it’ll compound. If you don’t, you’ll lose it and be back in the rat race fighting for attention like everyone else.

4. Storytelling is becoming playable

Core idea:
UGC gaming platforms aren’t just marketing channels - they function as creation, distribution and monetisation layers at once.

Key insights:

• Gaming is immersive, social and experiential.
  
  → The experience is participatory rather than passive, and this differentiates it as a storytelling medium.
  
  → Designing for participation means setting clear guardrails, but not rigid rules. Developers and creators need the room to test and experiment to find what resonates with the audience.
  

• Designing games and content to augment the IRL experience, and drive action/commerce is becoming a core strategy to drive monetisation.
  
  → Plug-ins from Shopify & Amazon are introducing streamlined commerce check-outs, making it easier than ever to connect (and track) play to purchase.
  

• Advertising, in many forms, is coming.
  

  → from rewarded ads to cosmetics to full-scale integrations, there are now multiple ways for advertisers & IP/consumer brands to contribute to the experience rather than disrupt.
  
  → It is however worth noting that while thousands of games launch each year, value/attention concentrates quickly. “Of the 20,000 games launched each year - 80% of revenue comes from 66”.
  

Why it matters

Playable media collapses the traditional funnel because awareness, engagement, conversion and loyalty can all now happen in the same environment.

As attention fragments and costs to attract new fans rise, games offer brands the opportunity to drive engagement, build fandom and encourage action into the real-world.

5. Digital innovation, and the difference between good and bad experiences is now seconds

Core idea:
Technology can improve fan experiences across sports and digital entertainment - but only if it works instantly and feels human. It’s an expectation that experiences (IRL or digital) are delivered immediately and with no friction.

Key insights:

• Immediacy is the baseline. Fans expect answers and actions instantly; whether that’s finding information, accessing content, or moving to the next lobby. Delays lose attention fast.
  

• Product development decisions need to be grounded in data. Conversations with your fanbase will uncover those pain-points and reveal sentiment.
  
  → Doing things that don’t scale can drive significant value.
  
  → The strongest signals often come from combining internal exploration of new platforms/tech with direct feedback from communities about where they’re actually spending time - and then meeting them there.
  

• Whilst data sets direction, people shape the experience. Metrics show what’s working, but stories, instincts and frontline insight explain why; combining top-down goals with bottom-up reality leads to better decisions.

Why it matters

As technology becomes embedded in every day life, expectations rise with it too. Fans don’t just compare your experience to competitors - they compare it to the best, fastest interaction they had that day.

So in a world where attention is won or lost in seconds, quick, frictionless and personalised experiences are now the bare minimum.

So over the 17 sessions across the two days, these are the tides that we see shifting.

IP definitely still matters. Stories still matter. Fans need to be central as ever.

The real differentiator is now how well brands invite those fans and creators to help carry their story forward, and how early in the process they design for distribution and interactivity.

And so, with the future belonging to the brands that treat fandom as something to nurture, how will you invite yours to help carry the story forward?

I also unpacked a lot of this on the Brands in Play podcast last week (who also did a Real-Time Review of SEG3 LA) ⤵️

In other news this week:

• The Walt Disney Company agrees three-year licensing deal with OpenAI: read here.

• Medal releases Gaming Insights Report 2025: read here.

• Youtube releases Global Culture & Trends Report 2025: read here.

• BLAST signs Brawl Stars Esports with Supercell: read here.

• Ubisoft & Exclusible partner to bring Rabbids IP to Roblox: read here.

• Netflix, 21 Laps & Story Kitchen developing feature adaptation of Kingmakers video games: read here.

• P&G & Dentsu to deliver 50 episodes of brand-funded micro-drama: read here.

• Manchester City FC launch Rocket League team: read here.

• Stablecoin provider Tether submit proposal to acquire Juventus FC: read here.

• Porsche partners with Capcom for Resident Evil Requiem: read here.

• Professional Darts Corporation & Two Circles extend partnership to accelerate D2C offering: read here.

• Kim Kardashian skins come to Fortnite: read here.

• Developers can now set-up communities on UEFN: read here.

• The LEGO Group bring Ninjago to LEGO Fortnite: read here.

• Bain & Company report finds cinema attendance still at just 64% of pre-pandemic levels: read here.

• BCG release video gaming report 2026: read here.

Working on anything cool, or have a press release you would like us to cover? Send it in for the chance for it to be covered in next week’s edition!

That’s all for now everyone - thanks again for reading the latest edition of The SEG3 Report. Have a wonderful holidays, and we’ll see you in the new year!