Blog: Podcasts

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.

Beyond listening: What podcast libraries can tell us about consumer identity

Laura Fisher

22 Oct 2025

Audience Insight Podcasts Consumer behaviour

Podcast libraries have evolved beyond a simple log of listening habits, becoming a telling indicator of personal identity. Increasingly, the most revealing source of who someone is may not be their social media feed or viewing history, but the podcasts they choose to follow.

Cover image for Beyond listening: What podcast libraries can tell us about consumer identity

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.

Cover image for Forget catalogue; creators are the new valuable IP

The power of audio: Reflections on the Radio Academy Festival

Laura Fisher

24 Sep 2025

Business Strategy Podcasts Radio

On September 17, 2025, I had the pleasure of attending the Radio Academy Festival: World of Sound. Held in the splendid Royal College of Physicians in Regent’s Park, it felt apt to discuss the future of sound in such a hallowed hall of learning.

Cover image for The power of audio: Reflections on the Radio Academy Festival

The late-night dilemma: Balancing tradition and disruption

Laura Fisher

31 Jul 2025

Business Strategy Video Podcasts

Two competing opinions landed in my inbox recently, both signalling a shift in late-night entertainment, but from entirely different perspectives. The first, from RainNews , argued that podcasts were replacing traditional late-night TV.

Cover image for The late-night dilemma: Balancing tradition and disruption

Why podcasts triumph in real-life settings: a lesson in scene alignment

Laura Fisher

10 Jul 2025

Fandom Podcasts Audio

Podcasts are well and truly getting the in-real-life treatment. What began as a digitally native on-demand medium is now commanding physical spaces with remarkable success. This isn’t from the live recordings in and of themselves, but from mastering scene alignment .

Cover image for Why podcasts triumph in real-life settings: a lesson in scene alignment

The rise of video podcasts: people-watching reimagined or a necessary evolution?

Laura Fisher

2 Jul 2025

Cultural trends Podcasts Video podcasts

Human nature and human nosiness seem to go hand in hand. There is something undeniably compelling about getting a view into someone else’s world. Historically, this would be in the form of a coy walk past a living-room window’s undrawn curtains in the street.

Cover image for The rise of video podcasts: people-watching reimagined or a necessary evolution?

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

Laura Fisher

29 May 2025

Business Strategy Podcasts Audio

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.

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

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

Laura Fisher

20 May 2025

Cultural trends Audio Podcasts

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.

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

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

Laura Fisher

14 May 2025

Marketing Strategy Podcasts Audio

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, a...

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

A case against video podcasting

Laura Fisher

16 Apr 2025

Product Strategy Podcasts Radio

Key takeaways from this blog: While video is at the forefront of entertainment, audio-only formats can be equally important for engagement Prioritising video-first podcasting risks dilution – favouring style, celebrity, and algorithms over knowledge and authenticity MIDiA argue that audio-only pod...

Cover image for A case against video podcasting

The medium is no longer the message – the messenger is now, too

Rutger Rosenborg

4 Apr 2025

Podcasts Audio Spotify

Key takeaways from this blog: Podcasts now rival traditional media in influence, especially around current events, thanks to their strong personalities, flexibility, and direct audience engagement The success of top podcasts is driven by hosts, not media networks — charisma, connection, and commen...

Cover image for The medium is no longer the message – the messenger is now, too

Is it too soon to be talking about podcast superfans?

Rutger Rosenborg

28 Mar 2025

Fandom Business Strategy Social media

Key insights from this blog: Podcasting faces challenges on its way to becoming a mainstream format on the level of radio, music, and TV While the medium excels at creating a sense of community and personal connection, discovery and accessibility hurdles have so far held podcasts back Supported by o...

Cover image for Is it too soon to be talking about podcast superfans?

Audio creators are the creator economy's unsung heroes

Rutger Rosenborg

14 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Audio Podcasts

Key insights from this blog: MIDiA's latest audio report, ' The audio creator opportunity ' , argues that brands and platforms can no longer afford to neglect audio creators Audio creators are a fast-growing force in the creator economy, driving demand for better tools and marketing They are more li...

Cover image for Audio creators are the creator economy's unsung heroes

Podcasting has finally become profitable, but question marks remain

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Mar 2025

Product Strategy Spotify YouTube

Throughout 2023 and into 2024, you might have thought the sky was falling for podcasting. Layoffs and show cancellations had many in the industry wondering if there would be any financial future for the format.

Cover image for Podcasting has finally become profitable, but question marks remain

How streaming platforms are adapting in the race for affordable content

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Spotify YouTube

Music is expensive – not for consumers, but for companies who have to license music copyrights from rightsholders. It is a large reason Spotify did not have a full year of profitability until 2024 . What helped the company get there? Podcasting.

Cover image for How streaming platforms are adapting in the race for affordable content

The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

Fandom Spotify US

On the heels of positive Q4 2024 financials for Spotify , the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) has not lost a step in holding the company accountable for what it sees as unauthorised music usage.

Cover image for The audio listener is too valuable for the music industry to ignore

Meta-podcasts are coming for the news, not the podcast industry

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Feb 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Google

Although Google has arguably cornered the podcast market through YouTube already, by employing AI, the company may be making it even harder for competitors to catch up.In October 2024, MIDiA covered the development of NotebookLM and its ability to disrupt the informational and educational podcast sp...

Cover image for Meta-podcasts are coming for the news, not the podcast industry

The podcast attention game: How algorithmic discovery may remake podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

29 Jan 2025

Audience Insight Spotify YouTube

Open the YouTube app on your TV and the first category you will see below “Home” is “Podcasts”. According to the YouTube blog , viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts every month in 2024, just on living room devices alone.

Cover image for The podcast attention game: How algorithmic discovery may remake podcasting

The podcast listener journey reveals a desire for human connection

Rutger Rosenborg

21 Jan 2025

Audience Insight YouTube TikTok

As the global podcast industry zeros in on video – especially social video – one overlooked discovery source has never really gone away: word of mouth. Despite a format that was born to be digital, podcasting still relies on the most analog of recommendation systems for discovery in the US, UK, ...

Cover image for The podcast listener journey reveals a desire for human connection

What got you here won’t get you there: how Spotify built a new business

Mark Mulligan

17 Jan 2025

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Since its inception, Spotify has been, and continues to be, the streaming music market’s lightning rod. This is due to its continued ability to maintain leading market share and the fact it is the only leading global DSP that is independent and therefore has to focus place more focus on commercial...

Cover image for What got you here won’t get you there: how Spotify built a new business

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.