Ashleigh Millar | MIDiA Research

2023 MIDiA predictions
Pivot point

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston, Perry Gresham, Sam Griffin, Kazia Rothwell and Ben Woods

20 Dec 2022

Apple

YouTube

Amazon

In this report, MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, games, marketing, audio and cultural trends in 2023 and...

Meghan Trainor vs. Sam Smith: Newsflash, authentic(ish) marketing is ‘in’

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

2 Nov 2022

Music

Media and Marketing

Meghan Trainor

If you have found yourself of TikTok over the last month, you will have most likely been inundated with Sam Smith ‘Unholy’ and Meghan Trainor ‘Made You Look’ content. The two artists made TikTok...

Social media marketing is becoming its own cultural moment

Report by Hanna Kahlert and Ashleigh Millar

31 Oct 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Facebook

Audiences are changing the ways they interact with entertainment, as well as how they respond to advertising and marketing designed to promote it. Audiences are increasingly creative and engage in lean-through...

'Unholy' goes viral
Social media marketing campaigns need audience support

Case Study by Hanna Kahlert and Ashleigh Millar

31 Oct 2022

TikTok

Marketing Strategy

Media and Marketing

Read the case study …

Midnights: modern-day music marketing 101

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

27 Oct 2022

taylor swift

community

online communities

Are we surprised that Taylor Swift has broken records (yet again) after dropping her new album, Midnights (and Midnights (3am Edition) )? In the first five days of release, Midnights earned more than an...

BeReal success: where is the popular app headed?

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

15 Sep 2022

BeReal

Instagram

snapchat

As of the end of August 2022 , BeReal was reported to have 10 million daily active users , not to mention that the app was number one in Apple’s App Store’s free app list in July (in Australia, the...

Andrew Tate, the manosphere and social media platform responsibility

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

30 Aug 2022

andrew tate

hunter moore

manosphere

Millennials among us may remember Hunter Moore, a man that Rolling Stone aptly named “the most hated man on the internet” , and who is now the subject of Netflix’s recent documentary series of the...

Re-creating the creator economy

Report by Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston and Richard Broadhurst

18 Aug 2022

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

Streaming first democratised the means of consumption, then distribution, and now production. Though the promise of the long tail may not have materialised quite as expected, long-tail and mid-tail creators...

Netflix sues Barlow and Bear: is all fair in love and content creation?

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

4 Aug 2022

Bridgerton

Netflix

Barlow and Bear

TikTok sensations and The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical composers, Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, are being sued by subscription video on demand (SVOD) giant Netflix, and it raises the question: how far...

Minions versus Lightyear: a tale of two contrasting fandoms

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

12 Jul 2022

SVOD

cinema

Disney

The new Universal / Illumination film, Minions: The Rise of Gru , has broken records for an Independence Day release to theatres – it grossed $123.1 million over the long weekend, beating the previous...

Instagram is trying TikTok features on for size – but does the shoe fit?

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

19 May 2022

TikTok

Instagram

stories

Instagram has started testing its new TikTok-esque make-over. The platform, which originally started as a photo-first app, has revealed its plans to push forward in a more video-first direction. This is...

Is the rising popularity of the BeReal app proof that raw authenticity is the social media trend of 2022?

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

28 Apr 2022

TikTok

Instagram

snapchat

‘Genuineness’ is trending on TikTok at the moment. Influencer celebrities have risen to fame because of their transparency and relatability, from the likes of Brittany Broski sharing candid, unfiltered...

Non-music companies should be taking notes from the music marketing playbook

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

2 Mar 2022

social media

SVOD

Marketing

It is evident that the music industry’s social media marketing model – specifically on TikTok – is particularly effective in elevating the careers and profiles of the new generation of music artists,...

Why Disney’s Encanto is a cross-generational success

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

14 Feb 2022

Disney+

TikTok

SVOD

For the last month and a half, Disney’s Encanto has been taking the world by storm . Encanto tells the story of the magical ‘Madrigal’ family who live in the mountains of Colombia, and the animated...

Why Instagram is climbing aboard the subscription bandwagon

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

21 Jan 2022

Instagram

Subscriptions

patreon

Meta has announced that, following the success that came from its ‘fan subscriptions’ (now called ‘Subscriptions’) trial in June 2020, it will be testing the subscription model on Instagram via...

Why UK Christmas number ones are the current charity of choice

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

23 Dec 2021

Christmas streams

Music Charts

youtube music

It is the most wonderful time of year… we get to watch (and influence) the fight for the Official Charts’ UK Christmas number one. And in the lead for, arguably, the most coveted spot in UK music is...

Subliminal marketing in the social era

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

10 Dec 2021

TikTok

music marketing

Media & Marketing

Our millennial readers might recall the days of their first email accounts – back in the nineties and noughties – when their friends would send them chain mail with the threat of some ghoulish creature...

A red-hot cultural movement (Taylor’s Version)

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

23 Nov 2021

Fandom

music fans

Streaming

Here at MIDiA Research, we like to take a deep dive into fandom culture and the effect it has on industry progress and strategy. As of late, we have focused on the success behind tribal fandom (a skill...

Is live-stream composition the new formula for a hit album?

Blog post by Ashleigh Millar

1 Oct 2021

TikTok

live streaming

songwriters

We are no stranger to TikTok and its impact on the music industry, which is changing the structure of the business one viral video at a time. Artists and composers are flocking to the innovative social...