Entertainment
The entertainment industry is made up of multiple, distinct sub-markets. One way to break it down is to consider the content or activity type, for example:
Digital content, inclusive of video streaming and downloads, news access and subscriptions, audio content purchases (i.e., books, stories, music, podcasts), and video games (i.e., game purchases, in-game purchases)
Events , inclusive of events ticketing to sports games , concerts, etc .
Online gaming and betting, inclusive of sports betting, casino games, and other wager-based betting experiences
Another way to consider the market is by the key players, like Consumers, Content Creators, Distributors/Platforms, and Advertisers. In either instance, if you are an organization working within one of these markets, you offer end users access to fun and leisure, and end users have high expectations for related experiences – including payments. As a result, you must take a more systematic and intentional approach to your payments strategy.
Glenbrook supports entertainment companies to address the following common questions
How should our payments strategy support our growth strategy?
How should we support tokenization, if at all?
What fraud vectors should we be most concerned about and how do we best mitigate those?
What is the optimal team configuration to support our payments strategy?
What is the optimal architecture to support our objectives?
Are we using the right payments partners?
What orchestration approaches are most meaningful to us?
Are we exposed to churn risk? If so, how do we best manage it?
Our Clients
Gaming Companies
Event Ticket Marketplaces
Newspapers
Digital Music & Audiobook Services
Video Streaming Services
Other Entertainment Companies
Entertainment Case Studies
Resources
Articles
Glenbrook shares our perspectives on activities in the industry.
Mid-Year Payments Check-In: Revisiting Our 2026 Predictions
The Glenbrook team is taking stock in June 2026 to see how the payments trends predictions from our January Payments on Fire episode are holding up.
The Missing Context Layer in Agentic Commerce: Part 3
Glenbrook’s Drew Edmond explores the specific implications for the payments and agentic commerce industry: how discovery changes when agents mediate it, how payment selection shifts upstream, how merchants need to prepare differently across categories, and who ultimately controls the agent layer.
The Missing Context Layer in Agentic Commerce: Part 2
Glenbrook’s Drew Edmond examines why the agent’s role in agentic commerce varies significantly by purchase category, where the context layer is being built today, and how far along it actually is.
Podcasts
Glenbrook speaks with industry leaders to share a variety of perspectives on the latest payments trends and activities.
Episode 302 – Catching Up on the Capital Markets, with Timothy Chiodo, UBS
About a year ago, we chatted with with Tim Chiodo of UBS and Chris Kim of Capital Group about the investment side of payments. It’s been a pretty volatile 12-months in the equity market since then – well-timed for Bryan Derman to welcome Tim back on the podcast and catch up on the market factors playing into the payments space.
Listen in as they recap the performance of payments stocks, dive into the e-commerce market, provide perspective on the card networks, discuss merchant acquiring growth opportunities, and finish up with a lightning round on emerging technology.
Episode 301 – Casting Light on the Digital Euro, with Nicola Branzoli, Banca d’Italia
In this episode, Nicola Branzoli, Head of Division for the Digital Euro Regulation, Research, and Technical Support at the Banca d’Italia, joins Glenbrook’s Ashley Lannquist and Simon Skinner for an in-depth exploration of the digital euro. Listen in as they cover the objectives and value proposition, design choices and pilot details, and what the digital euro means in the broader European payment context.
Episode 300 – Reflecting on 12 Years of Payments on Fire
2026 is a milestone year for Glenbrook as we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the firm. We also find ourselves airing the 300th episode of our Payments on Fire podcast – founded by George Peabody in 2014, nurtured by Yvette Bohanan, and now continued on through the hosting efforts of most of the team.
We thought there would be no better way to mark the 12 year achievement – and pay respect to what George and Yvette built – than to revisit the journey with clips from the first 299 episodes. From early episodes on digital currency and AI, to fast payments evolution and financial inclusion efforts (and how could we leave out tokenization), listen in as Bryan Derman and Jill Wurst guide you through significant moments in the podcast’s history.
News
Glenbrook objectively curates the news to keep you abreast of important daily headlines in payments.
New Requirements Accelerated for UK Consumer Subscription Contracts
"Multinational consumer-facing businesses are subject to a global patchwork of consumer protection laws and regulations, all of which create a complex regulatory landscape. Requirements around consumer subscription contracts are rapidly evolving and increasingly...
Mastercard: Changing Lanes: Cross-Border Payment Providers in New Race to Win Small Business Loyalty
"Nine in 10 (91%) small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) trading internationally are set to switch their current cross-border payment provider in the next two years, according to Mastercard’s new Money in Motion report. The findings point to a fast-changing market,...
AsiaPay Pilot Launches Voice Pay for Merchants in Asia
"AsiaPay announced the pilot launch of Voice Pay, an AI-powered voice payment experience that lets consumers speak into their mobile device and instruct a payment using their preferred payment method — from digital wallets to cards. With Voice Pay, customers can...
Ready to see how Glenbrook can support your entertainment company to be as efficient and effective as possible?