Ben Woods

Ben is a Creator Economy Analyst at MIDiA. He holds a BA in American literature with creative writing from the University of East Anglia. Before joining MIDiA, Ben spent 13 years as a journalist, where he won several industry awards. He previously worked as the tech and media correspondent for the Sunday Times and The Telegraph. His focus spans the creator tools industry, social video platforms, and streaming TV services. He is also a big video games and anime fan.

The ‘TikTok of AI’ – why OpenAI’s Sora 2 will disrupt social media

Ben Woods

9 Oct 2025

Business Strategy Social Content

Shortly after its release last week, OpenAI’s new AI video generator app – Sora 2 – topped US download charts. Dubbed the ‘TikTok of AI’, the app introduced a range of new features that could redefine AI’s relationship with consumers, social platforms, and entertainment IP.

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The ‘proof of work’ premium in the age of AI

Ben Woods

18 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Video Creators

AI is presenting an existential threat to the video creator hardware market . Key to the disruption is the ability of AI video generators to enable creators to bypass cameras within the video creation workflow.

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Decoding the video creator economy’s potential at IBC2025, Amsterdam

Ben Woods

9 Sep 2025

Audience Insight Video Creator economy

The video industry is in the middle of a substantial shift. The days of traditional entertainment and the creator economy occupying separate lanes are ending. Creators are expanding beyond social platforms to produce more premium content on SVOD services.

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The new Hollywood
Tactics for YouTube’s TV takeover

Ben Woods

26 Aug 2025

Creators Streaming YouTube

YouTube is consolidating its takeover of the living room TV set. What began in the US is now becoming a global phenomenon. With younger audiences increasingly spending more time watching social video on the TV, broadcasters and streaming TV services must find a way to respond.

Why WEBTOON’s short-form video drive is a lesson in format flexibility

Ben Woods

22 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Fandom WEBTOON

In June 2025, MIDiA made a call that WEBTOON , the vertical scrolling digital comic app, could pose a greater challenge to anime’s leading subscription streaming service, Crunchyroll. The conclusion was made based on the potential for WEBTOON to deliver a more compelling in-app offer around video.

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What traditional media can learn from sports fandom’s bifurcation moment

Ben Woods

15 Aug 2025

Fandom Entertainment Engagement

Too often, fans are categorised as one amorphous group. They can be lumped together regardless of their age, purchasing power, community engagement, or entertainment consumption behaviours. Fans are a diverse group and always have been.

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Mainstream meets Fandom: How entertainment and creators can thrive together

Ben Woods

5 Aug 2025

Fandom Creators Creator economy

Fandom is evolving into a more powerful force within entertainment. The value gap between what entertainment IP holders produce and what fans can create is narrowing fast. This has implications for audience engagement.

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The future of creator apps
Fuelling engagement with fandom

Ben Woods

29 Jul 2025

Creators Spotify Artists

The AI boom has unleashed a wave of creator tools, but some are struggling to make the transition from interesting and experimental to compulsive and essential. Fandom offers a solution by tying creation to a consumer’s personal passion, appetite for community engagement and a desire to have a stake in the entertainment they love.

Why legacy media should use creators as curators and content providers

Ben Woods

23 Jul 2025

Business Strategy Fandom Entertainment

Much of the traditional entertainment world is now working with creators. In fact, many of these companies have long-standing creator strategies when it comes to marketing. Whether it is a movie launch, a new TV series, video game, or album release, these businesses have a strong handle on which cre...

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YouTube, AI, and the social content balancing act

Ben Woods

16 Jul 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Video

How are social platforms coping as the AI floodgates open? For some time now, MIDiA has been advocating for social platforms to provide some protections to human creators from the increase in AI content.

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YouTubers want greater government support – and British broadcasters could help

Ben Woods

8 Jul 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Creator economy

Governments often struggle to keep pace with technological change. This can be frustrating for young but growing industries that need ministerial support to unlock the next stages of their economic potential.

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Beyond the hype
AI music creation in 2025

Ben Woods

3 Jul 2025

Creators France Australia

Generative AI tools are forging a new type of creator and shifting music creator workflows. While creators and consumers alike are interested in AI tools as they emerge, converting users is still an evident challenge. Music fandom has its foot in the door to increasing AI-assisted consumer creation and could pave the way for niche AI tools.

Apple, Stormzy, and the new Hollywood

Ben Woods

25 Jun 2025

Business Strategy Apple Fandom

How do broadcasters and traditional filmmakers adapt to a YouTube world? It is a question that has hung over the video industry’s old guard for some time now. Yet, social video is nothing new; YouTube is 20 years old, and the creator economy is already worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

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The fandom eclipse
How fan content is competing with IP

Tatiana Cirisano and Ben Woods

25 Jun 2025

superfan YouTube Netflix

Fan-made content is evolving from a support act to a fully-fledged competitor to entertainment IP. This is creating tension between IP holders and the fan community. Both parties want the IP they love to thrive in a saturated entertainment landscape. This report will unpack whether entertainment IP holders should view fan content creation as an opp...

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How the Bloodborne community filled the void with fan-made content

Ben Woods and Tatiana Cirisano

25 Jun 2025

Content Business Strategy Community

Bloodborne has built a deep and committed fanbase since it was released exclusively on PlayStation 4 in 2015. Despite a decade passing since, the action role playing game has remained the subject of intense speculation of what its next iteration will be.

Why WEBTOON could pose a challenge to Crunchyroll’s anime strategy

Ben Woods

3 Jun 2025

Business Strategy SVOD Fandom

Anime is having a moment in Western markets. Signals of its popularity are continuously flashing across the entertainment industry, from the Naruto -inspired celebrations of Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke to Dolce & Gabbana’s high fashion collaboration with JUJUTSU KAISEN.

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AI futures
Culture wars

Ben Woods, Tatiana Cirisano, Hanna Kahlert, Mark Mulligan and Kriss Thakrar

29 May 2025

Apple Spotify Deezer

AI is transforming culture, entertainment, business, and society at a rate unprecedented in the digital era. Unlike previous tech, AI is evolving at the speed of computing, not the human brain. Delivering as quickly as it promises, AI is breaking the mould.

The age of the premium content creator is here – but will audiences buy into it?

Ben Woods

23 May 2025

Audience Insight Video Creator economy

What makes a content creator popular? At first glance, this question feels easy to answer. Successful creators often have distinctive characteristic that propel their success. MrBeast is known for his stunt video format, Twitch streamer Shroud has impeccable gameplay on first person shooters, and An...

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Where do you stand on AI’s transformation of the video creator economy?

Ben Woods

9 May 2025

Audience Insight Video US

Artificial intelligence is imposing revolutionary change on the creator economy. Tried and tested workflows are being automated, streamlined, and recalibrated by large language learning models that are promising to rid creators of tedious tasks.

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AI prompting is an art form that will reshape creation

Ben Woods

1 May 2025

Product Strategy creator tools AI

Key takeaways from this blog: Generative AI is reshaping creative workflows, with MIDiA’s research highlighting how AI-only video production is already achievable The next creative divide will be defined by prompting skill level: those who can expertly translate vision into AI prompts will be ahea...

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