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.

A message to the entertainment industry: nurture fandom or risk losing control of your IP

Ben Woods

29 Nov 2024

Creator economy

Games

Video

What makes a fan in 2024? Is it how much they spend? How often they watch, listen or play? Is it how much they broadcast their fandom across social apps? Of course, the answer is all the above – and...

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Are consumers ready for TikTok’s AI acceleration?

Ben Woods

21 Nov 2024

Generative AI

TikTok

chat bots

The AI revolution sweeping the entertainment industry will rage on in 2025. In recent weeks, TikTok owner ByteDance has provided a deeper look into how AI will impact social platforms . Through a series...

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Are social platforms losing the next generation to Roblox and Fortnite?

Ben Woods

15 Nov 2024

Roblox

TikTok

YouTube

Unpacking social media strategy is now part and parcel of any election postmortem. From Elon Musk’s ownership of X to Donald Trump’s use of creators to target Gen Z men, understanding social’s role...

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How creator hardware companies can adapt to AI’s new creative lane

Ben Woods

7 Nov 2024

Video

Product Strategy

creator hardware

Companies building creator hardware are used to disruption. The last seismic shift came in the shape of the smartphone. Mass market point-and-shoot cameras were met with an existential crisis when lenses...

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When Bernie Sanders met Sykkuno: how VTubers are taking over social platforms

Ben Woods

31 Oct 2024

Creators

Creator economy

Video

It made for a curious sight: the US senator Bernie Sanders discussing the upcoming election with Sykkuno , a creator whose digital identity is an anime inspired demi human with cat ears. These two worlds...

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The future of creator hardware
AI’s new creative lane

Ben Woods

October 2024

Twitch

Sony

Microsoft

AI tools pose a risk to the hardware funnel by becoming the go-to toolkit for beginners and a substitute for recorded footage. With AI providing solutions at every stage of the video creator workflow,...

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Want to monetise generative AI tools effectively? Then make them safe for creators

Ben Woods

17 Oct 2024

Creator economy

Creators

Adobe

Adobe wrapped its creativity conference on Wednesday after a slew of product announcements for creators. Much like last year’s MAX event, artificial intelligence was front and centre. Many of the demos...

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AI’s creator economy revolution will accelerate if it can join the dots

Ben Woods

11 Oct 2024

Creator economy

Video creators

Music creators

While generative artificial intelligence (AI) is in its infancy, many people are optimistic about the technology’s potential. Organisations are deploying AI to improve productivity – and creators and...

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Unpacking AI’s threat to video creator hardware

Ben Woods

4 Oct 2024

Creator economy

Video creators

Video creator tools

“AI video generators are just another tool in the box”: this statement has been circulating in recent months as AI adoption gathers pace. It is mostly used to soothe concerns regarding AI disruption...

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Video creator tools
Hardware user profile

Ben Woods

September 2024

Product Strategy

The democratisation of video creation has created an unprecedented opportunity for hardware tools companies. However, converting casual creators and beginners into high spenders is difficult given the...

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Conference season shows video industry sharpening the focus on interactive content and AI tools

Ben Woods

26 Sep 2024

Creator economy

Video creators

Creator tools

Cutting through the noise during conference season is always a challenge. But it becomes easier when comparing the mood and messaging from the previous year’s event. Sometimes a year is all it takes...

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The price of AI creator tools is on the rise, but will consumers pay for them?

Ben Woods

12 Sep 2024

AI

Creator economy

Video creators

AI has provided a significant engagement opportunity for creator companies. It has enabled creative platforms to market a raft of new features to consumers on top of what they already offered, whether...

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The battle has begun to own the creator through all-encompassing ecosystems

Ben Woods

4 Sep 2024

Creator economy

Creator tools

Video creators

There has always been tension between the goals of creators, social platforms, and creator tools companies. As the creator economy has evolved, a push and pull has ensued between what creators’ feel...

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Understanding creators to harness the monetisation opportunities

Ben Woods

30 Aug 2024

Video

Business Strategy

Creators

Videos are now the de facto mode of communication. To reach and engage audiences, all creators are now expected to deliver high quality video content that entertains. This has always been a prerequisite...

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Video creator tools
Software user profile

Ben Woods

August 2024

Product Strategy

Creator economy

The video creator software market is evolving fast. AI tools are carving out new workflows, and the democratisation of video creation is increasing demand from social video creators and professional videographers....

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Is it time to retire the ‘AI’ brand to bolster adoption among video creators?

Ben Woods

23 Aug 2024

Video

Marketing Strategy

AI

AI tools have put the video creator economy in sharp focus over recent months. AI video generators like Runway and OpenAI’s Sora have provided a tangible example of not just AI’s capability in video,...

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How CapCut is challenging Adobe Premiere Pro’s dominance of the video editing market

Ben Woods

15 Aug 2024

Capcut

Adobe Premiere Pro

Video

Social platforms have brought a significant number of new creators into the market. With this has come a whole host of creator tools companies looking to capitalise on the opportunity. While their features...

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The video creator economy’s challenge: not all creators want to pay for editing tools

Ben Woods

25 Jul 2024

Video creator tools

editing

Adobe Premiere Pro

Video creation has never been more accessible. More and more entertainment consumers are shifting from passive to lean-through consumption by creating their own content. However, those creators have different...

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Will video editing tools still dominate in a world of AI video creation?

Ben Woods

16 Jul 2024

video editing

AI video generators

Video

Experimenting with tools is part and parcel of being a video creator. With each new video editor preset or plug-in comes an opportunity tore-think the creative process. Rather than being fixed, workflows...

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MIDiA launches video creator economy vertical as AI delivers transformative growth

Ben Woods

11 Jul 2024

Social video

Video

Business Strategy

Keeping step with AI’s impact on the video creation industry can be a daunting prospect. Ways of working that have existed for decades are being reorientated around generative AI tools. With these changes...

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