MIDiA Blog

Read our latest daily deep dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the entertainment world. Check out the latest insight from your favourite analyst, or search by coverage areas - music, entertainment and fandom, creator economy and social.

Grok meets Telegram: Why is AI being shoehorned into messaging platforms?

Cover image for Grok meets Telegram: Why is AI being shoehorned into messaging platforms?

Hanna Kahlert

5 Jun 2025

Product Strategy

In an unusual twist, on May 28, 2025, xAI agreed to pay Telegram $300 million in cash to be integrated into the messaging platform (per Reuters ). It is not every day you see a feature paying its platform to be combined into its existing service, but, Elon Musk is not often one for the traditional playbook.

min read

Read the highlights from MIDiA's 'AI futures: Culture wars'

Cover image for Read the highlights from MIDiA's 'AI futures: Culture wars'

Mark Mulligan

4 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

Creator workflows

AI is transforming culture, entertainment, business, and society at a pace unprecedented in the digital era. Unlike previous tech, AI is evolving at the speed of computing, not the speed of the human brain.

min read

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

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

Ben Woods

3 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

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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The evolving podcast landscape: Key insights from The Podcast Show 2025

Cover image for The evolving podcast landscape: Key insights from The Podcast Show 2025

Laura Fisher

29 May 2025

Business Strategy

The 2025 Podcast Show revealed an industry in a stage of transformative growth. From the series of excellent talks, several key trends emerged, from legacy media, audio platforms, and creators adapting to new consumption patterns.

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What Western DSPs can learn from Tencent Music’s SVIP Tier

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Olivia Jones

29 May 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) has had a lucrative Q1 2025, with Super VIP (SVIP) subscriptions driving revenue growth. According to the company’s earnings report, music subscription revenue grew 16.

min read

20 years ago, labels targeted fandom. Will it work the second time around?

Cover image for 20 years ago, labels targeted fandom. Will it work the second time around?

Tatiana Cirisano

27 May 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

The New York Times headline “ The New Deal: Band As Brand ” would not look out of place in today’s pages. In the article, the writer explores how record labels are responding to a need to diversify revenue streams by seeking to monetise fandom, via expanded rights deals.

min read

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

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

Ben Woods

23 May 2025

Audience Insight

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 Antony Fantano’s candid take on music draws millions of subscribers on YouTube.

min read

Culture always starts as grassroots: The rise of bardcore raves

Cover image for Culture always starts as grassroots: The rise of bardcore raves

Hanna Kahlert

22 May 2025

Cultural trends

The entertainment industry is facing a cultural crisis. Demands for more , faster to feed the algorithms are undermining longevity and impact. Songs fade quickly, while films fail to fill cinemas. If much of current mainstream culture is nostalgia and clickbait, what will be the legacy that defines this era? The biggest phenomena never start big; they take time to grow and become established.

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The ARIA Awards 2025: Why can’t we all just get along?

Cover image for The ARIA Awards 2025: Why can’t we all just get along?

Laura Fisher

20 May 2025

Cultural trends

As someone with both a professional and personal obsession with all things audio, since the ceremony on the 14th of May, my LinkedIn feed has been unsurprisingly saturated with content about the ARIAs.

min read

The new soft power and its hidden rules

Cover image for The new soft power and its hidden rules

Mark Mulligan

15 May 2025

Business Strategy

Throughout the 20th century, particularly the second half, many Western countries – such as the US, UK, and France – increased their global influence through the use of cultural soft power. This was done through tools like Voice of America and the BBC World Service, as well as via movies, TV, journalism, and music.

min read

Built for the split: how Create Music Group is positioning itself for a bifurcated industry

Cover image for Built for the split: how Create Music Group is positioning itself for a bifurcated industry

Tatiana Cirisano

15 May 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is entering a new phase – less a fork in the road, than a slow but steady divergence . On one path sits the traditional record label model, which monetises music rights via scale of streams.

min read

The paradox of scale and success: What music can learn from gin distilleries

Cover image for The paradox of scale and success: What music can learn from gin distilleries

Hanna Kahlert

14 May 2025

Business Strategy

The digital world is becoming less reliable. Platforms are flooded with AI content ranging from banal, to amusing, to concerningly incorrect . Advertising crowds the feed alongside creators desperately trying to sell something: themselves, a lifestyle, products, businesses.

min read

The soft power of podcasting: how long-form audio is reshaping discourse

Cover image for The soft power of podcasting: how long-form audio is reshaping discourse

Laura Fisher

14 May 2025

Marketing Strategy

In an era where attention spans are dwindling and media fragmentation is at an all-time high, podcasting has emerged as an unlikely but formidable force in shaping geopolitical narratives. Unlike traditional news radio or adversarial TV interviews, podcasts offer a unique blend of intimacy, depth, and authenticity; qualities that politicians are increasingly leveraging to bypass conventional media gatekeepers.

min read

Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Cover image for Music discovery is not dead, just evolving – the industry needs to evolve with it

Olivia Jones

9 May 2025

Audience Insight

Music streaming

Music streaming algorithms have changed the way we listen to music – for better and for worse. While the radio used to be the main way to find new music, streaming and social algorithms now drive discovery as listeners crave (and have come to expect) more personalised recommendations.

min read

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

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

Ben Woods

9 May 2025

Audience Insight

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.

min read

Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Cover image for Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Mark Mulligan

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming may be maturing from a revenue perspective but with two-tier (‘artist centric’) licensing and supremium, 2025 is set to be a year of transformative change in both product and business terms.

min read

AI narration: hope or hindrance to audio creation?

Cover image for AI narration: hope or hindrance to audio creation?

Laura Fisher

8 May 2025

Cultural trends

The conversation around AI narration has awakened a historic tension, one that emerges at the dawn of every technological epoch. The tension is not just about the capabilities of AI itself, but the gnawing uncertainty of what it means for humans.

min read

What “Make Hollywood Great Again” really means for entertainment

Cover image for What “Make Hollywood Great Again” really means for entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

On Sunday, May 4th, President Trump announced his intent to put a “100 per cent Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands”. The administration has stated it is “exploring all options” and that no final decisions have been made.

min read

Has music reached peak fragmentation?

Cover image for Has music reached peak fragmentation?

Tatiana Cirisano

2 May 2025

Audience Insight

If you have read any of MIDiA’s work, you will know we keep a close eye on the fragmentation of music consumption. Thanks to both the internet’s democratising force and the rise of recommendation algorithms, consumers are spreading their listening across more songs and artists than ever, while the “hits” are dominating less.

min read

AI prompting is an art form that will reshape creation

Cover image for AI prompting is an art form that will reshape creation

Ben Woods

1 May 2025

Product Strategy

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 ahead of the curve and set the standard for creators As AI tools evolve, MIDiA foresees a new generation of AI-native creators poised to redefine professional-grade output Who will be left behind by the AI revolution? Many industries are predicted to pivot towards autonomous workflows that will streamline some jobs out of existence.

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