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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.

The ‘proof of work’ premium in the age of AI

Ben Woods

18 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Video Creators

AI is presenting an existential threat to the video creator hardware market . Key to the disruption is the ability of AI video generators to enable creators to bypass cameras within the video creation workflow.

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What the AAA video game industry can learn from indie success

Brandon Sutton

18 Sep 2025

Gaming Games Gamers

A review of the video game releases from the past few years depicts a games landscape dominated by remakes, remasters, and sequels. From the perspective of the publishers, the appeal of this strategy is easy to understand.

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Social is the medium, but its messages are more than just content

Hanna Kahlert

17 Sep 2025

Cultural trends Social media Content

All things, it seems, must now revert to “social”. Netflix has announced a new “Clips” feature, where segments of episodes can be selected and shared on social media (per Engadget ). Spotify has added a social feature allowing users to directly message songs to each other.

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All eyes, no ears: New MIDiA data shows why virality is not building fandom

Tatiana Cirisano

16 Sep 2025

Business Strategy Fandom Music

Over the past five years, social video has crept its way into nearly every aspect of music, from talent scouting to new release marketing. But the buzz around these platforms often obscures a more complicated reality.

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AI AI, Cap’n: Shifting headwinds to the promised land of tech innovation

Hanna Kahlert

11 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Content Social

In any industry, the simple bits tend to be the most stable. For every ice cream, there’s the company that makes the sticks; for every book publisher, there’s the company selling the paper. By the same logic, in the midst of the AI boom, Nvidia – which manufactures chips that make the technolo...

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Beyond the anecdote: The need for a data-driven superfan definition

Laura Fisher

10 Sep 2025

Fandom Entertainment Engagement

Whether you work in the entertainment industry or not, you have almost certainly used the term superfan . It’s a ubiquitous label we apply to the most ardent audiences. It’s the fans who camp out for new releases, who own every variant of a vinyl, who drive viral moments, and whose identities ar...

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Decoding the video creator economy’s potential at IBC2025, Amsterdam

Ben Woods

9 Sep 2025

Audience Insight Video Creator economy

The video industry is in the middle of a substantial shift. The days of traditional entertainment and the creator economy occupying separate lanes are ending. Creators are expanding beyond social platforms to produce more premium content on SVOD services.

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Karra, bifurcation, and YouTube’s gain

Mark Mulligan

8 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Streaming Music

A couple of weeks ago, electronic music artist Karra posted a video on YouTube about why she took her album down from streaming (one that she spent $100,000 making). She is now going to focus her efforts on YouTube (“an incredible platform for [her] artistry”), as well as selling content to musi...

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How KPop Demon Hunters cracked the fandom code

Olivia Jones

4 Sep 2025

Fandom Netflix Music

KPop Demon Hunters has taken the world by storm. With 266 million all-time views (at time of writing), it is currently Netflix's most-watched film ever . That’s not to mention the success of its soundtrack – four songs from the film are in the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 , with breakout hit “Gold...

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From niche to mainstream: How video games adaptations are taking over movies and television

Brandon Sutton

3 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Entertainment Games

Today’s most successful movies and television shows are video game adaptations. For those who remember the media landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, this represents a marked shift in the entertainment industry.

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MIDiA’s 2025 independent label survey

Mark Mulligan

28 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Fandom survey

It’s that time of year again, MIDiA’s independent label and distributor survey is now live and waiting for your contributions! Click here to take the survey. The annual survey is an opportunity for the global independent community to have its voice heard – and this year is one of the most impo...

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Gamescom 2025: The top three trends from the games industry’s biggest event

Brandon Sutton

28 Aug 2025

Games gamescom Business Strategy

The gaming industry’s largest showcase, Gamescom, wrapped up on Sunday 24 August, and with over 350,000 attendees, it broke records to become the most attended event in its history. Serving as an annual barometer for the industry, Gamescom helps set expectations for the upcoming holiday season, wh...

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Calling all audio creators: Shape the future of the industry and get a chance to win $100!

Laura Fisher

27 Aug 2025

Audience Insight Audio survey

Take the MIDiA research 2025 Audio Creator survey and have your voice heard. MIDiA Research has long been known for its music creator surveys – and even its video creator surveys. But this year, for the first time ever, we’re turning the spotlight on audio creators with our brand-new 2025 Audio ...

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The life of a cultural narrative: Where are 2025’s iconic moments?

Hanna Kahlert

26 Aug 2025

Cultural trends Entertainment Media

Eras are defined by their moments. The 2000’s saw low-rise jeans, a neon palette, and pop star drama. The 2010’s had barn weddings and ‘Gangnam Style’. With time comes the benefit of hindsight, and clarity on what was big versus what faded quickly.

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Why WEBTOON’s short-form video drive is a lesson in format flexibility

Ben Woods

22 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Fandom WEBTOON

In June 2025, MIDiA made a call that WEBTOON , the vertical scrolling digital comic app, could pose a greater challenge to anime’s leading subscription streaming service, Crunchyroll. The conclusion was made based on the potential for WEBTOON to deliver a more compelling in-app offer around video.

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The unflattening of streaming

Mark Mulligan

21 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Streaming Fandom

This post builds on our January 2025 post ‘The unflattening of music’ which itself built on two previous pieces (you can find links to both in that post). Industries arrive at pivot points when an accumulation of fissures coalesce into one big crack.

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The case for flexibility: What the Switch 2’s success signals for other handhelds

Brandon Sutton

20 Aug 2025

Product Strategy PlayStation Gaming

When Nintendo announced the Switch 2 would release this year, it had big shoes to fill. Its predecessor has become one of the best-selling consoles in history; surpassed only by the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS in total sales.

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What traditional media can learn from sports fandom’s bifurcation moment

Ben Woods

15 Aug 2025

Fandom Entertainment Engagement

Too often, fans are categorised as one amorphous group. They can be lumped together regardless of their age, purchasing power, community engagement, or entertainment consumption behaviours. Fans are a diverse group and always have been.

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More than a lineup: The importance of bold curation

Laura Fisher

14 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Music Artists

Have you noticed how many festival lineups this summer feature the same handful of artists? I have, and, crucially, fans are noticing it too. Where festival billings once offered a window into a distinctive scene, today’s lineups are merging into a wave of homogenised big-name experiences.

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Instagram Maps: Feature or future?

Hanna Kahlert

14 Aug 2025

Instagram Snapchat Social media

Meta’s Instagram has begun rolling out a new ‘Maps’ feature, similar to Snapchat’s (but with added privacy concerns). It has also rolled out a new ‘friends’ tab on the Reels page, allowing users to see videos already liked by others they follow, seemingly weighted by the friends they int...

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