A year of change behind us, a new epoch ahead: Predicting 2026

2025 is drawing to a close. Looking back through the year’s updates and events, it’s been a busy one. The major highlights: entertainment’s relationship with AI has changed dramatically, and there were a number of major mergers and acquisitions, including Netflix purchasing Warner Bros. and a consortium of financial interests buying EA.

Underpinning this, however, have been some subtler shifts. Culture is both homogenising and fragmenting, with the mainstream looking increasingly uniform, but the proliferation of niche scenes in unexpected places booming. User sentiment has also shifted negatively, from artists quitting Spotify to consumers cutting down screentime. Creativity is being promoted across the board, from Sora 2 to Adobe’s new tools suite, yet still remains a niche activity as social platforms promoting UGC become places to be passively entertained, not to bare the goings-on of ones’ personal life.

What comes next?

Well, I’d tell you, but that would spoil the main event. MIDiA’s 2026 predictions webinar is coming up on January 15th, right when you need it to get your teeth sunk into the new year. We’ll be talking through the biggest things to look out for next year across social, the creator economy, audio, and – of course – music.

Change is the constant, and it is clear we are on the verge of a new epoch. Younger generations have no digital spaces to call their own, and existing platforms will struggle as innovation and optimisation start to clutter and degrade the user experience after a certain point. AI will continue to take the internet by storm, but culture will increasingly start to unfold offline. The system is ripe for disruption, coming from all sides: new insurgents, the global economy, consumers themselves, and regulatory bodies, all of which are evolving rapidly in response to the market dynamic.

You can sign up to the free webinar on our events page here, and clients can access the full 2026 predictions report here. We’ll have a live Q&A after the webinar, so come equipped with questions. We look forward to seeing you there!