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.

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 for companies to dial down the hype and take a more sober view on the latest technology trend.

min read

Read more …

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 that is creator-focused platforms like Canva and Adobe Express or social video platforms such as Yo...

min read

Read more …

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 is fair remuneration for their work, and what the industry feels is the right commercial framework ...

min read

Read more …

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 for traditional video creators in TV and film and those with vast followings on social video plat...

min read

Read more …

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. Editing software and plugins remain key to monetisation, but challenges are emerging from subscription-adverse creators and users brough...

Read more …

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, but its transformative impact more generally.

min read

Read more …

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 may vary, they share a common goal: each app wants to secure steady, long-term engagement as a...

min read

Read more …

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 priorities from professional editors and videographers who have made up the video creator e...

min read

Read more …

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 are in a constant state of evolution as technology unlocks new ways to create.

min read

Read more …

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 comes opportunities, risks and plenty of questions: AI is poised to open the gates to more en...

min read

Read more …

The state of the video creator economy
Creativity in a streamlined world

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

July 2024

Business Strategy

Creator economy

The video creator tools industry is primed for turbo-charged growth as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the consumerisation of creation. While the opportunity is significant, a considered approach is needed to ensure AI elevates the creator economy’s success at turning passive consumers into monetisable creators.

Read more …

OpenAI's Sora
From hype to pragmatism

Case Study

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

July 2024

Business Strategy

Read the case study …

Hardware’s AI moment will help video creators do more with less

Ben Woods

3 Jul 2024

Video creator tools

Social video

video production

It has been a tumultuous time for hardware companies working in video creation. Revenues have been impacted by two forces: a tough macroeconomic climate and industrial action. High inflation has knocked consumer confidence, while the Hollywood Strikes have either delayed major TV and movie productio...

min read

Read more …

The MIDiA Video Creator Tools Webinar: Where disruption meets opportunity

Ben Woods

25 Jun 2024

Video creator tools

video editing

Social video

Smartphones and social platforms have transformed video production from the domain of TV and cinema to a creation outlet for the masses. To capitalise on this opportunity, the video creator tools industry has pivoted towards simplifying and gamifying their tools for a mass market audience.

min read

Read more …

Why creative friction can tackle the ‘Slot Machine Effect’ in AI generated video

Ben Woods

19 Jun 2024

Video creator tools

Social video

Showrunner

AI-generated content is a polarising topic. Some view AI video generation as a vital tool for bringing creativity and communication to the masses. Others believe it to be a solution in search of a problem.

min read

Read more …

Why video creation tools must go niche to survive AI streamliners like Apple Intelligence

Ben Woods

11 Jun 2024

Social video

creator tools

Apple

Amid the flurry of recent generative AI announcements, Apple had been strangely quiet. This changed on Monday (June 11, 2024) when it announced Apple Intelligence at its WWDC24 developer conference. In short, Apple Intelligence is a suite of consumer-focused tools embedded into Apple products to enh...

min read

Read more …

AI is promising a video creation revolution: Are you ready for the upside?

Ben Woods

6 Jun 2024

creator tools

Creator economy

Social video

Video has reached an inflection point. Artificial intelligence is poised to bring video creation to even more consumers, in a move that will disrupt the tools, workflows, and business models underpinning the value chain.

min read

Read more …

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

Tim Mulligan, Ben Woods and Mark Qi

May 2024

Business Strategy

MIDiA’s global subscription video forecasts captures a broad view of the market. With limited video subscriber growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and increased diversity of monetisation models, such as the introduction of lower cost, ad-supported tiers.

Read more …

Why social video platforms should worry about their creators in the squeezed middle

Ben Woods

29 May 2024

creator tools

Social video

YouTube

The fallout of the pandemic exposed some uncomfortable truths about the creator economy. After an engagement boom during lockdown, the seemingly endless audience for social video content suddenly appeared finite.

min read

Read more …

Veo – Why YouTube’s video creator expertise is its trump card in the battle with OpenAI’s Sora

Ben Woods

24 May 2024

YouTube

OpenAI

Sora

When OpenAI revealed its Sora project last February (2024), the video industry began a transformational journey. It was clear even by the early clips that OpenAI’s AI text-to-video tool would recalibrate how videos were made.

min read

Read more …