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.

What do young people do without the doomscroll? Why social media bans present an opportunity

Hanna Kahlert

23 Jun 2026

Cultural trends Fandom Social media

The United Kingdom is set to enact bans on social media for under 16s by spring 2027, with further restrictions for 16 and 17 year olds under consideration. It will also likely affect how adults use social platforms as age verification measures and algorithmic adjustments take place.

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Superfandom in an anti-social media world

Kriss Thakrar

19 Jun 2026

Clients only

Fandom Streaming Social media

For the past five years, TikTok and digital reach have largely dictated music marketing. For many artists, success has meant being an influencer first and an artist second. The idea of “ 1000 true fans ” shifted from cultivating a dedicated audience willing to buy tickets for your shows to focus...

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Social versus sponsorship: brand building in 2026

Hanna Kahlert

17 Jun 2026

Marketing Strategy Fandom Social media

Social media is the go-to form of marketing in the digital age, resulting in a predicted combined $737.1 billion in annual revenue by 2031 per MIDiA’s forecast . It’s not hard to see why: social offers quick returns and easy measurement, including reach, time spent, click-through rates, and purc...

Music subscriber market shares Q4 2025: The chess board is set

Tatiana Cirisano

15 Jun 2026

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Global music streaming subscribers grew 10.1% to reach 921.6 million in 2025, according to MIDiA’s just-published music subscriber market shares report . While growth slowed compared to 2024, it remained in the double digits, with the 1 billion subscriber landmark now firmly in sight.

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Atomised concentration: How streaming ensures the house always wins

Mark Mulligan

12 Jun 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Streaming Artists

There is an apparent paradox in today’s streaming-dominated music market: major labels are losing share (on a distribution basis) yet long-tail indies are finding it ever harder to achieve scale. So, is the trend fragmentation or concentration? The perplexing answer is that it is both.

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Calling all audio creators: Take our survey and help shape the future of spoken-word audio

Laura Fisher

11 Jun 2026

Audience Insight Creators Audio

After a successful first year , MIDiA's audio creator survey is back. We are once again inviting spoken-word audio creators to share their experiences and help build a better understanding of this rapidly growing creator segment.

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Vertical TV is more than streaming’s TikTok moment

Ben Woods

10 Jun 2026

Product Strategy TikTok Streaming

Streaming TV services are entering a new phase of smartphone competition. For years, their strategic focus has been on content depth: exclusive shows, premium originals, and sports rights. Yet on mobile, the battle for engagement is increasingly shaped by experience as much as content.

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K-pop fans are not “one size fits all”: Comparing fans in US and South Korea

Olivia Jones

4 Jun 2026

Clients only

Fandom Business Strategy Streaming

K-pop has had a banner year, with the genre earning multiple Grammy nominations,along with the massive success of Kpop Demon Hunters . As K-pop’s dedicated fans dominate the global stage, they are often seen as the definition of “superfans”, with artists and labels chasing similar levels of fa...

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The renewed value of maximalism in the era of AI

Laura Fisher

3 Jun 2026

Product Strategy Creators Entertainment

The infrastructure of entertainment consumption has never felt more feudalistic. Distribution, discovery, and monetisation increasingly operate through a small number of platforms that shape how audiences find, consume, and pay for content.

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Meta launches paid subscriptions: is the era of free social media at an end?

Hanna Kahlert

2 Jun 2026

Business Strategy Facebook Instagram

After months of testing, Meta has announced three new paid subscriptions: Instagram Plus, Facebook Plus, and WhatsApp Plus. Features will vary according to platform. Instagram Plus focuses on public signalling, analytics, and engagement: creating new follower lists, seeing who has re-watched stories...

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The Podcast Show 2026: The signals worth paying attention to

Laura Fisher

29 May 2026

Podcasts Entertainment Media

The Podcast Show 2026 reflected an industry entering a more mature and commercially sophisticated phase. While previous years of often focused on podcasting proving its value within entertainment and media , this year’s conversations centred far more on sustainability, audience growth, and long-te...

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The music industry’s personalisation paradox

Tatiana Cirisano

28 May 2026

music industry Music Music fandom

Music streaming, like most other digital entertainment types, has never been more personal. Every listener is now super-served their own algorithmically-generated world of personalised playlists, AI DJs, and hyper-specific recommendations.

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Clipping campaigns: marketing’s next move in a fragmented attention economy

Hanna Kahlert

27 May 2026

Social media Social Content

In early May 2026, New York Magazine and The Verge published articles outing the secret sauce of marketing in the social video era: clipping campaigns. In summary, thousands of accounts across social media are mobilised – through formal companies like Floodify or through informal networks on Disco...

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The attention trap: Why social engagement does not always create fandom

Ben Woods

27 May 2026

Fandom Social Engagement

Social video platforms are often portrayed as the home of modern entertainment fandom. There is no question that YouTube and TikTok have enabled audiences to deepen their relationships with entertainment IP compared to the pre-digital era.

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The creative generation wants its own soundtrack

Kriss Thakrar

21 May 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Streaming Fandom

Most music fans are musically creative. This doesn’t necessarily mean they aspire to be artists or producers, but simply that they are engaged in at least one of the musical creativity behaviours tracked by MIDiA, such as producing music, learning or playing an instrument, writing music, performin...

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Instagram Instants hint at Meta’s changing aspirations

Hanna Kahlert

19 May 2026

Business Strategy Instagram Social media

As of May 13, Meta has announced the rollout of Instants: a new feature for Instagram that doubles as its own app. Instants are quick snapshots that can only be viewed by followers once and disappear after 24 hours.

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The three challenges YouTube must overcome to become TV

Ben Woods

13 May 2026

Business Strategy YouTube Streaming

YouTube’s case to be classed as TV in the eyes of advertisers is not bulletproof. TV advertising does not just buy reach and premium content. It buys into a regulated ecosystem built around measurement standards, brand safety, discoverability rules, and public-service obligations.

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What official UK industry recognition means for the future of Audio and Podcasting

Laura Fisher

13 May 2026

Clients only

Product Strategy Audio Podcasting

On 11 May, the UK government announced that podcasting and audio will be assigned dedicated codes under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2026 framework, the system used to categorise businesses by economic activity.

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Is AI the biggest threat to social platforms?

Hanna Kahlert

12 May 2026

Business Strategy Social media Social

Social media is becoming less social. You may have noticed this in your own life, as the endless scroll of short-form video becomes default. Users are more likely to turn to ‘social’ platforms for entertainment than to communicate with friends, according to MIDiA’s quarterly consumer survey .

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Answering questions from MIDiA’s "The State of AI and Music" webinar

Olivia Jones

7 May 2026

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Last week, MIDiA’s public webinar “The State of AI and Music” explored AI’s role in reshaping consumption, creation, and value in the music industry. For those who were unable to attend, a recording of the webinar is available here .

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