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Blog: revenue

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, audio and social.

Beyond the stream: Live’s innovation moment

Leon Farrell

8 Oct 2026

Clients only

Fandom Business Strategy Artists

Is live music approaching a golden era of innovation? At a concert, the merchandise queue asks a slightly absurd question: how much of the show would you miss for merch? A committed fan is ready to spend, yet the experience makes them choose between buying and watching.

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The creator investor: a compelling alternative to the creator product line

Hannah Walker

17 Sep 2026

Business Strategy Product Strategy Creators

The most successful creators are not just creative storytellers – they’re commercially minded entrepreneurs. The most sophisticated operators in this field recognise that launching their own product lines can be a lucrative and reliable revenue stream.

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The road to 2033: The fan economy surges ahead

Olivia Jones

10 Sep 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

This client-only series takes a deeper look at the key themes shaping MIDiA’s 2026–2033 global music forecasts report and what they mean for the future of the music business. Expanded rights have become one of the music industry’s biggest growth stories, with label revenue from participation i...

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The road to 2033: Streaming’s shifting balance of power

Tatiana Cirisano

27 Aug 2026

Clients only

Business Strategy Streaming Music streaming

This client-only series takes a deeper look at the key themes shaping MIDiA’s 2026–2033 global music forecasts report , and what they mean for the future of the music business. Global music streaming subscription revenue grew 14.

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Accessing the internet: How AI will reshape digital discovery, consumption, and ad revenues

Hanna Kahlert

12 Nov 2025

Cultural trends Social Digital

In last week’s blog, I wrote about whether AI is the new “world wide web”. Having a www-dot address was once a path towards making millions. With the benefit of hindsight, this oversimplification seems absurd.

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The winning formula for Grand Theft Auto VI: Games pricing strategy

Brandon Sutton

9 Oct 2025

Product Strategy Fandom Gaming

A highly anticipated piece of media, Grand Theft Auto VI has garnered widespread attention . However, many details of the game remain a mystery – including the price of the base game. Previous speculation has suggested the game could be priced at $100.

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Global recorded music revenues up 5.9% in H1 2025

Mark Mulligan

29 Sep 2025

Marketing Strategy Streaming Music

MIDiA is excited to announce our first ever mid-year recorded music model. Clients can access the data here , which is published as part of our H1 2025 music industry metrics report, containing more than 40 pages of market metrics, company financials, and consumer data.

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Ads in WhatsApp Stories: is this the next ad frontier in social?

Hanna Kahlert

20 Jun 2025

Business Strategy WhatsApp advertising

Meta has announced that it will be rolling out ads in WhatsApp’s ‘updates’ tab. This marks a move to monetise what has, up until now, been a platform with not so impressive revenue to report. A major issue for WhatsApp is that, as a direct messaging platform, it has been very difficult to mone...

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Are we reaching peak fandom?

Mark Mulligan

1 May 2025

Business Strategy Streaming Music

With streaming revenue growth slowing to 6.2% in 2024, the recorded music industry’s attention is firmly fixed on superfans as the ‘get out of jail free’ card. The growing sophistication of artist merch has reached the stage where fans can buy Taylor Swift fashion bags and shop her jewelry ran...

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How economic volatility will impact US labels’ fandom monetisation push

Olivia Jones

25 Apr 2025

Business Strategy Music US

It has been an eventful few weeks for the global economy, to put it mildly. Since President Trump’s initial announcement calling for a universal baseline tariff on foreign imports to the US at the beginning of this month, global financial markets have been in flux, affecting nearly every sector fr...

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Is streaming music's final form? And if not, what's next?

Tatiana Cirisano

3 Apr 2025

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Key takeaways from this blog: Music is not stuck – it is shifting. Fans now engage through remixes, memes, and behind-the-scenes content, not just through streaming Streaming is losing cultural ground.

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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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Why Spotify only hit profitability now (but will do so again)

Mark Mulligan

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Spotify Streaming

Spotify finally registered its first profitable year in 2024. It has hit net profit in individual quarters before – most recently in Q3 2023 – but this is the first year it was profitable throughout the year.

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The unflattening of music

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2025

Cultural trends Spotify TikTok

[This post builds on two other recent MIDiA posts: Background music and What got you here ] At the half way point of the decade it is a good time to reflect on how the business of music is reshaping the culture of music – and where this is heading.

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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...

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Can subscriptions keep the lights on for social?

Hanna Kahlert

19 Oct 2023

Social User-generated content creator tools

Digital advertising has long been the financial backbone of the digital world. It has underpinned the business models of the likes of Google and Meta, and its absence has been the value proposition of subscriptions, which now dominate digital entertainment.

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Are mobile game advertisements a legitimate trojan horse for podcast downloads?

Annie Langston

12 Oct 2022

podcast downloads game ads real podcast listener

Podcast marketing is still somewhat new terrain in the digital audio market. Not only are podcasts a niche activity, but the market is fragmenting with the development of more shows. This oversaturation is making it harder for any individual show to grow its audience.

Key takeaways for podcasting from SiriusXM and Spotify’s earnings

Annie Langston

4 Aug 2022

Spotify SiriusXM earnings

Two audio giants with investments in podcasting — Spotify and SiriusXM — published their second quarter earnings for the year. SiriusXM saw marginal year-over-year growth in revenue – around 4% – although it was still able to increase its paid subscribers by 23,000 users, bringing its total ...

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Quick take: Overwolf hints that UGC is the future of entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

18 Nov 2021

Media and Marketing Gaming overwolf

The gap between creation and consumption is closing. Entertainment behaviours no longer follow simple dynamics of viewing or listening. Increasingly, they comprise a variety of activities from sharing with friends, to using basic creator tools to interact with and create new aspects within other ent...

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WWE Q3 Earnings – An innovative digital strategy helps WWE overcome COVID-19 disruption

Alistair Taylor

12 Nov 2020

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment covid

WWE’s Q3 2020 results provide a fascinating insight into how a live event-focused entertainment business has successfully navigated a global pandemic. In its financials for the quarter , WWE saw a 19% revenue increase year-on-year (YoY), with Q3 2020 revenue at $221.

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