Behind The Lines

With back to school shopping in full swing and a new school year just around the corner, this week's IBISWorld podcast zeroes in on the actual financial workings of public and private universities. Lead analyst Meghan Guattery and editor Kieran Newton discuss why schools' revenue can be so volatile, the struggles of for-profit colleges, and investment trends across the sector.

To coincide with the release of IBISWorld's new sector reports, editor Kieran Newton sat down with analyst Marisa Lifschutz to get an overview of the trends and evolutions of the construction sector. They discuss the sector's post-recessionary recovery, its current labor troubles, and how it may be affected by shifting investment and technology in the years to come.

This week, the IBISWorld podcast kicks off our new limited series on the many facets of the expanding and evolving world of package delivery! IBISWorld editor Sean Egan and analysts Jon Hadad and Maks Soshkin explore the powerhouse of Amazon, the new trends they've established, and how the rest of the industry is catching up.

Last month, the Supreme Court overturned the longstanding national ban on sports betting. With the market now on the verge of rapid expansion across the US, IBISWorld analyst Rob Miles and editor Kieran Newton use the small existing domestic market and the UK's national gambling industry to discuss the potential makeup of the new US sports betting scene and how it may trend in the long term.

Summer is here, which means that it's tourism season! IBISWorld analysts Chris Lombardo and Ryan Roth talk with editor Sean Egan about how the various segments of the Arts, Entertainment and Recreation sector have been trending and why, with a special focus on arcades, amusement parks like Disneyland and Legoland, historic sites and museums.

5G, the proposed new benchmark for wireless mobile networks, has the potential to revolutionize data connectivity through speeds 10x faster than the current 4G LTE standard. Internet traffic has soared, and this new technology could provide a robust framework for continued growth in the digital age. IBISWorld editor Kieran Newton interviews analysts Ediz Ozelkan and Jon Hadad about the nature of 5G, with a focus on its possible impacts for telecommunications providers in the US and Canada, as well as for the implementation of smart city technologies.

From beauty stores and supermarkets to cardboard manufacturers, subscription boxes such as BlueApron and Birchbox have the potential to disrupt several industries. In this week’s episode, IBISWorld lead analyst Meghan Guattery and editor Sean Egan discuss how this evolving new niche, which remains unquantified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), is having a broad yet elusive impact.

Trade tensions are on the rise between China and the United States. On this episode of the IBISWorld podcast, editor Kieran Newton turns to analysts John Madigan and Jon Hadad to break down the recent tariff salvos flying back and forth between these two global powerhouses. John Madigan focuses on the potential repercussions for US agriculture, while Jon Hadad investigates both sides' rationales behind the escalations.

 

For more information about the steel and aluminum tariffs that began this dispute, listen to episode 15 of this podcast, which dives deep into that very topic!

(Correction: John Madigan misspoke when he said that 98% of counties that produce soybeans voted for President Trump; the correct statistic is 89%.)

Financial technology, mobile banking, and online-only banks are on the rise. To understand how this has and will continue to affect the banking sector, IBISWorld editor Sean Egan sat down with analyst Mario Ismailanji to discuss this evolution. Analyst Claire O'Connor provides context for the change by highlighting retail, which has already undergone similar changes, and sharing some surprising insight on the sector.

Over the past decade, the advertising arena has become overwhelmingly digital, with internet publishers promising heightened audience targeting and engagement with ads. Now, however, major ad buyers are pushing back on this new norm, and this edition of Technobabble investigates why. IBISWorld editor Kieran Newton hosts as analysts Chrystalleni Stivaros and Jon Hadad look at just how drastically advertising has changed because of the internet and what these new disputes could mean for the future of the industry.