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.

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

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

11 Jul 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.

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OpenAI's Sora
From hype to pragmatism

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

11 Jul 2024

Business Strategy

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the beginning of its journey along the Gartner hype cycle, a conceptual framework that helps track the impact of new technologies over time. So far, AI has not quite reached the end of the first stage –– known as the ‘peak of inflated expectations’ –– when financial markets, enterprises, governments an...

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...

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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.

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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.

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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...

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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.

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MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

Tim Mulligan, Ben Woods and Mark Qi

30 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.

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.

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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.

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Chasing the zeitgeist: why speed trumps creativity in social video marketing

Ben Woods

16 May 2024

Video creators creator tools TikTok

TikTok has redefined what it means to be part of a cultural moment. In the past, engaging with trends meant being a consumer of content that captured the spirit of the time. For video, this was largely expressed through watercooler moments, where discussing the most popular TV shows and movies with ...

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Why acquiring Paramount would transform Sony’s cross-entertainment future

Ben Woods

8 May 2024

Paramount+ Paramount Global Sony Pictures

When rumours began circulating of a Paramount sale, TV streaming was already entering a new phase. The industry’s biggest beasts have been locked in an all-out war for subscribers, spending and borrowing big to capture as much of the market as possible.

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AI video generators have underestimated the appeal of being a suffering artist

Ben Woods

1 May 2024

Social video creator tools video production

Given the tussle for technological dominance between Asia and the West, it is unsurprising that China has launched a competitor to OpenAI’s Sora . Unveiled at the ZGC Forum in Beijing on Saturday (April 27, 2024), Vidu is China’s text-to-video model that can generate content with simple prompts.

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Video Creators: Tell us how you create for a chance to win $500

Ben Woods

30 Apr 2024

Social video creator tools Creator economy

MIDiA is building a new research stream focused on video creators and the tools they use to create. We are striving to understand the unique workflows and creative processes that underpin the art of making engaging video content.

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How will AI change the video creator tools’ value chain?

Ben Woods

18 Apr 2024

creator tools Video creators Twitch

When it comes to selling software and hardware, the creatoreconomy resembles other types of hobby. Take sports: there are plenty of cheapfootballs and tennis rackets out there for consumers who want to start playing.

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Ideas are king in the land of AI video creation

Ben Woods

11 Apr 2024

Video creator tools Creator economy Social video

Those with doubts about the impact of AI on video creation should watch Air Head . The surrealist short film about a man with a balloon for a head was pieced together using OpenAI’s Sora , the text-to-video tool that is fuelling fear and curiosity across Hollywood.

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Virtual influencers
The opportunity for brands and creative agencies

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2024

Business Strategy Creator economy

Brands and creative agencies can claim a larger slice of the creative economy as adoption of virtual influencer content accelerates. Cheaper to run, with higher productivity rates and more monetisation options, virtual influencers provide an opportunity for brands to secure a greater return on their marketing investment.

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The Clueless
Accelerating virtual influencer growth

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

Creative agencies are pivoting to embrace virtual influencers as part of their social media campaign offer to brands. Among those is The Clueless, a virtual influencer modelling agency that uses artificial intelligence to create social media personalities.

Why Prime Video's Mr Beast gamble can fuel Amazon's advertising business

Ben Woods

25 Mar 2024

mr beast YouTube Prime Video

Amazon Prime Video has embarked on a big bet that could reshape the relationship between streaming TV and content creators. Long rumoured, the deal between YouTube superstar Mr Beast and Prime Video was made official on Tuesday (March 19th, 2024) with some headline grabbing details.

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The AI revolution sweeping video creator tools

Ben Woods

12 Mar 2024

Video

Streamlining the content creation process has become a key battleground for social video platforms. They are banking on AI shouldering most of the menial tasks associated with publishing a video, freeing up creator time to publish more content.

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