Blog: Superfans

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.

Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Cover image for Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Mark Mulligan

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming may be maturing from a revenue perspective but with two-tier (‘artist centric’) licensing and supremium, 2025 is set to be a year of transformative change in both product and business terms.

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Are we reaching peak fandom?

Cover image for Are we reaching peak fandom?

Mark Mulligan

1 May 2025

Business Strategy

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 range , meanwhile all eyes are on the impending Spotify supremium tier (as reported by Bloomberg ).

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Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Cover image for Everyone wants to monetise fandom – but we must fix fan data first

Olivia Jones

4 Apr 2025

Key takeaways from this blog: Fandom monetisation is booming, with MIDiA data showing how expanded rights is growing, driving labels to prioritise direct control over fan data instead of relying on third-party platforms.

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Is it too soon to be talking about podcast superfans?

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

Rutger Rosenborg

28 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

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 our forecasts and consumer survey data, MIDiA proposes "glocalised" content as one way for podcasts to move from niche to mainstream Podcasting faces significant challenges in becoming a truly global, mainstream format.

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A model for a new music streaming industry

Cover image for A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy

The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.

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Mining fandom: Music’s Drive to Survive moment

Cover image for Mining fandom: Music’s Drive to Survive moment

Ben Woods

28 Feb 2025

Marketing Strategy

Netflix’s Drive to Survive did more than introduce a new entertainment layer for sports fans. The F1 docuseries provided a framework for re-igniting and nurturing fandom. Before then, sports documentaries would have been considered ‘spin-off’ content.

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How to build a strong fanbase using identity resonance

Cover image for How to build a strong fanbase using identity resonance

Olivia Jones

27 Feb 2025

As entertainment consumption fragments, superstars dominate less, with fans gravitating towards ever-multiplying niches. This trend, alongside the maturation of streaming subscription growth, is driving record labels’ renewed focus on nurturing – and monetising – core bases of superfans.

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Craft versus character: the equation the music industry needs to fix

Cover image for Craft versus character: the equation the music industry needs to fix

Mark Mulligan

18 Feb 2025

I recently wrote about the unflattening of music :how creativity, craft, and fandom can – if done right – counter the growing commodification of music. Not surprisingly, I focused on the music side of the equation, but in doing so I missed the other big flattening challenge music faces.

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How PlayStation broke its hardware and active user records in Q4

Cover image for How PlayStation broke its hardware and active user records in Q4

Rhys Elliott

13 Feb 2025

Business Strategy

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 revenue share respectively We'll be focusing on PlayStation for the rest of the article.

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Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Cover image for Bringing fandom to life: the rise of IRL superfan experiences

Olivia Jones

12 Feb 2025

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 participation, adding yet another task to their ever-growing list of marketing responsibilities.

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What HYBE and UMG’s Q3 earnings tell us about superfans

Cover image for What HYBE and UMG’s Q3 earnings tell us about superfans

Olivia Jones

3 Dec 2024

Universal Music Group

“Superfan” has been this year’s buzzword in the music industry. From Universal Music Group (UMG) setting its superfan agenda at the start of the year to Warner Music Group announcing its plans for a superfan platform, much of the Western music industry has shifted its focus to monetising fandom.

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Two future paths for the vinyl revival

Cover image for Two future paths for the vinyl revival

Tatiana Cirisano

31 Oct 2024

monetising fandom

The vinyl resurgence is among the top music industry narratives of the past few years, especially given the recent focus on monetising fandom. The elephant in the room is the question of how long this resurgence will last.

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How big can music merch get? MIDiA’s latest report charts the course to $16B by 2030

Cover image for How big can music merch get? MIDiA’s latest report charts the course to $16B by 2030

Tatiana Cirisano

24 Oct 2024

music merchandise

monetising fandom

Over the weekend, Billie Eilish launched a pop-up merchandise shop in SoHo, New York, where fans could choose from items like a $20 pair of shoelaces, $30 belt, $30 necktie, and $60 necklace. Partnered with American Express , the experience, which previously opened in Tokyo, also included a photobooth, hangout area, and larger-than-life statue of Eilish’s “blohsh” mascot.

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Streaming’s growth plan in the connection economy

Cover image for Streaming’s growth plan in the connection economy

Kriss Thakrar

18 Sep 2024

Music streaming

Streaming clubs

During Universal’s Capital Markets Day, Universal Music Group (UMG) chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge cited some “fundamental facts” of the music business (per Music Business Worldwide ). These include the promise that “streaming will continue to propel many years of industry growth”.

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HYBE 2.0 diverges from the major-label blueprint in 4 key ways — will it work?

Cover image for HYBE 2.0 diverges from the major-label blueprint in 4 key ways — will it work?

Tatiana Cirisano

8 Aug 2024

HYBE kicked off the month with new leadership and a new plan to bring the Korean entertainment company into its next era of growth. In a letter to shareholders , outgoing CEO Jiwon Park and new chief Jason Jaesang Lee were refreshingly open about HYBE’s past weaknesses as they laid out a plan to prepare for market shifts and bring the “K-pop system” to new genres and regions.

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The make-or-break of live in 2024

Cover image for The make-or-break of live in 2024

Hanna Kahlert

9 Jul 2024

The music industry has a culture problem. An overabundance of data –– from streaming services and social platforms alike ––has fostered a dependence on digital performance that does not reliably translate into fandom and cultural value.

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The state of the attention economy: why don’t fan-first platforms work?

Cover image for The state of the attention economy: why don’t fan-first platforms work?

Hanna Kahlert

5 Jun 2024

The music industry is increasingly looking to fan-first solutions to drive its next era of growth (and solve artists’ financial woes), with all eyes towards the Taylor Swift model of fan frenzy. At the heart of this quest is a tension inherent in the ‘everything everywhere all the time’ model.

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Billie Eilish delivered a superfan masterclass

Cover image for Billie Eilish delivered a superfan masterclass

Kriss Thakrar

4 Jun 2024

While the industry standard for new releases has long been about scale and velocity, Billie Eilish, her brother Finneas, and Darkroom/Interscope, the labels behind their latest album Hit Me Hard and Soft , have delivered a masterclass in executing a superfan-focused release strategy.

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Music fandom’s future (and its existential crisis)

Cover image for Music fandom’s future (and its existential crisis)

Hanna Kahlert

1 May 2024

The launch of Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, broke records last week (small surprise there). Swift’s reputation for playing to her fanbase has once again proven to be in a class of its own – be it changing the fortunes of cinema chains , or altering local economies with her tour.

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Taylor Swift, The Black Dog, and the fan frenzy flywheel

Cover image for Taylor Swift, The Black Dog, and the fan frenzy flywheel

Kriss Thakrar

25 Apr 2024

A new Taylor Swift album is almost guaranteed to start a fan frenzy - the question is, what form will it take? Breaking Spotify records is a given, but digital consumption is not enough to satiate super fandom.

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