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Blog: Marketing

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.

Social media first principles: What it takes to go beyond the algorithm

Hanna Kahlert

8 Jul 2026

Business Strategy Social media Creators

The formula for success on social platforms changes regularly, much to the frustration of emerging creators and marketers alike. This is a natural consequence of content saturation. The moment the code gets cracked and everyone follows the same rulebook, that rulebook stops delivering anything that ...

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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...

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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Breaking the language barrier: AI’s next disruption in music

Adham Nazir

9 Apr 2026

Business Strategy Fandom Artists

American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once proclaimed that music is a universal language. Ironically, perhaps the only part of this universal language that isn’t universal is language itself. In the streaming era, it may seem easier than ever for musicians to reach listeners around the world, a...

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Forget catalogue; creators are the new valuable IP

Hanna Kahlert

16 Oct 2025

Business Strategy Streaming Fandom

The value of entertainment catalogue and content has shifted over the last decade. Licensing usage and distribution used to underpin the system, but challenges arose as digital consumption became the default.

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

Hanna Kahlert

14 May 2025

Business Strategy Music Marketing

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.

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

Ben Woods

9 May 2025

Audience Insight Video US

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.

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Scenes 2.0 | MIDiA’s updated entertainment playbook

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Mar 2025

Fandom Music Artists

In 2022, MIDiA introduced scenes as a new playbook for music marketing . As entertainment consumption fragments, what was once a singular “mainstream” is being replaced by hundreds of thousands of smaller scenes, or subcultures – like gorpcore, hyperpop fans, or retro gamers.

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How PlayStation broke its hardware and active user records in Q4

Rhys Elliott

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Netflix TikTok

Sony released its financial results for calendar Q4 2024. Here are the high-level results: Sony generated revenues of $27.9 billion As always, its Game & Network Services (G&NS) Segment – PlayStation – was the biggest segment (38%) Sony Music accounted for 11% and Sony Pictures for 9% of...

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Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Olivia Jones

12 Feb 2025

Fandom Spotify Streaming

Much of the recent discussion around music superfan monetisation has focused on online superfans, especially as more superstars join fan platforms like Weverse. These monetisation strategies capitalise on fans’ growing desire for artist-fan interaction but often rely on artists’ active participa...

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Meta pushes for “free speech” as TikTok falls short: a dramatic cultural shift for social

Hanna Kahlert

15 Jan 2025

Business Strategy Facebook TikTok

The news cycle leaves no room to draw breath as strategic pivots and Supreme Court hearings come thick and fast. Changes are afoot – and they paint a very different picture of the digital landscape of the future.

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Social platforms are eating passive entertainment. Are games eating social?

Hanna Kahlert

22 Oct 2024

Social Social media Gaming

At Sony Music’s Interactive Tech Day in London on 22nd October, gaming was, ironically, the highlight. From artist takeovers of Roblox destinations to concert-type experiences in Fortnite Islands, the company’s music strategy is increasingly crossing over with the gaming world – a goal mirrore...

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Branded podcasts level up: Ubisoft’s gaming podcasts bring games to life for new audiences

Rutger Rosenborg

7 Jun 2024

Podcasts Gaming Marketing

As the podcast listener base grows , companies across several industries — from automotive to fast food — see podcast production as a way to market to new audiences (sort of like an audio blog). Branded podcasts are nothing new for big games publishers like PlayStation and Xbox.

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Forget TikTok trends; the scene is TikTok itself

Hanna Kahlert

4 Apr 2024

TikTok Social Marketing

Much of marketing today focuses on chasing the latest TikTok trend. Catching the ‘next big thing’ just as it is taking off, then watching the cultural clout dissolve as the trend disappears as quickly as it appeared, is an exhausting enterprise.

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Barbenheimer, the Hollywood strikes, and AI: Is film at a cultural turning point?

Hanna Kahlert

20 Jul 2023

Barbie oppenheimer Hollywood

After an exciting boom period in film and TV productions made for digital-first streaming platforms, the downsides seem to be catching up. The Writers Guild of America (WGA) has been on strike since May 2nd (2023), signalling the biggest disruption to TV and film production since Covid-19.

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Swift and Healy set the tone for live music in the 2020s

Ashleigh Millar

23 Mar 2023

Taylor Swift the 1975 Marketing

When P!nk released her Greatest Hits…So Far! album back in 2010, radio show presenters were quick to respond by discussing what they believed would become the death of her career. According to them, greatest hits albums were essentially the nail in the coffin for music artists; a struggling attemp...

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Audible’s new podcast singing competition asks: is audio-only enough?

Annie Langston

22 Mar 2023

Audible Spotify singing competition

The rise of podcast videos are breathing new life into the audio market. Since 20% (Q4 2022 MIDiA Research) of all consumers are watching podcast videos, and content must often exist in multiple formats to attract attention today, both listeners and platforms, like Spotify , are shifting their focus...

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Snapchat and TikTok: The hAIghs and the lows of AI in social

Ashleigh Millar

9 Mar 2023

Snapchat Media and Marketing Marketing Strategy

Thanks to the record-breaking success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, all eyes are on artificial intelligence. From generative AI to social media filters, consumers have a growing expectation from entertainment, considering the quality of output from tech that they have at their disposal – not to mention t...

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The industry’s narrative is not always the same as the artist's narrative: Redefining success for independent artists

Keith Jopling

6 Mar 2023

Streaming Creator economy Marketing

Last weekend, there was a fascinating quote from Maseo of hip hop legends De La Soul in the UK Guardian: “On our second album, we learned the importance of controlling the narrative. I learned early on that a hit record can hurt your entire body of work if you let the industry control your narrati...

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