Blog: Video

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

YouTube, AI, and the social content balancing act

Ben Woods

16 Jul 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Video

How are social platforms coping as the AI floodgates open? For some time now, MIDiA has been advocating for social platforms to provide some protections to human creators from the increase in AI content.

Cover image for YouTube, AI, and the social content balancing act

Apple, Stormzy, and the new Hollywood

Ben Woods

25 Jun 2025

Business Strategy Apple Fandom

How do broadcasters and traditional filmmakers adapt to a YouTube world? It is a question that has hung over the video industry’s old guard for some time now. Yet, social video is nothing new; YouTube is 20 years old, and the creator economy is already worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Cover image for Apple, Stormzy, and the new Hollywood

The age of the premium content creator is here – but will audiences buy into it?

Ben Woods

23 May 2025

Audience Insight Video Creator economy

What makes a content creator popular? At first glance, this question feels easy to answer. Successful creators often have distinctive characteristic that propel their success. MrBeast is known for his stunt video format, Twitch streamer Shroud has impeccable gameplay on first person shooters, and An...

Cover image for The age of the premium content creator is here – but will audiences buy into it?

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.

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

IMS Business Report 2025

Mark Mulligan

23 Apr 2025

Spotify YouTube Facebook

Today I presented the 11th edition of the IMS Business Report at the ever-brilliant annual electronic music industry conference in Ibiza. And who doesn’t like a conference in Ibiza?! The full report is available via the IMS website.

Cover image for IMS Business Report 2025

Video creators: Tell us how you create for a chance to win a slice of our $1,000 prize pool

Ben Woods

17 Apr 2025

Audience Insight Video Creators

After a successful launch last year, MIDiA is returning with a new survey to ensure the voice of video creators is heard loud and clear across the industry. To achieve this, we are calling on all video creators – no matter their skill or what they create – to complete a quick survey to ensure th...

Cover image for Video creators: Tell us how you create for a chance to win a slice of our $1,000 prize pool

Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet

Hanna Kahlert

9 Apr 2025

Cultural trends TikTok Streaming

Key takeaways from this blog: Audience fragmentation is growing, with platforms like TikTok losing influence and shows like White Lotus thriving in niche, offline conversations Oversaturation of content is making it hard for entertainment to create shared cultural moments As MIDiA explores in our 'A...

Cover image for Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet

Why social is a double-edged sword for streaming TV

Ben Woods

7 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Video SVOD

TV shows, movies, and social creator content are lane hopping in search of engagement. It is common practice now for SVOD services to distribute one or several episodes for free on YouTube and TikTok in the hope of transforming social video viewers into SVOD subscribers.

Cover image for Why social is a double-edged sword for streaming TV

Can the smart TV become a canvas for content creation?

Ben Woods

21 Feb 2025

Audience Insight YouTube Netflix

YouTube’s growing strength on smart TVs is a head scratching moment for the video industry. The social video platform recently revealed that US consumers watched 1 billion hours of YouTube content daily on their smart TVs in December 2024.

Cover image for Can the smart TV become a canvas for content creation?

MIDiA’s analysts answer questions on their 2025 predictions

Karol Severin

5 Feb 2025

Business Strategy Music Games

We are delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response and discussions sparked during our 2025 predictions webinar. We are grateful for all the engaging questions you asked during the session. Though we were unable to get through all of the excellent questions in the one-hour window, we certainly ...

Cover image for MIDiA’s analysts answer questions on their 2025 predictions

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

The creator economy is booming, so why are we spending less time creating?

Ben Woods

8 Jan 2025

Creator economy Video Product Strategy

YouTube’s grip on TV viewership in the West is tightening, reflecting the growing power of the creator economy. Nielsen data from July 2024 shows that YouTube now has the highest TV audience share on US smart TVs,10% versus Netflix’s 8.

Cover image for The creator economy is booming, so why are we spending less time creating?

Can AI creator tools live up to their hype in 2025?

Ben Woods

19 Dec 2024

Video Product Strategy

Generative AI dominated discussions about the entertainment industry’s future in 2024. Whether it is music, video, games, audio, or social, both the immediate and long-term impacts of this technological revolution have been hard to ignore.

Cover image for Can AI creator tools live up to their hype in 2025?

Netflix, Duolingo, and the art of engagement in a fiercely competitive attention economy

Ben Woods

13 Dec 2024

Netflix Duolingo Squid Game

Netflix is making sure everyone knows that Squid Game 2 is just around corner.The South Korean dystopian survival thriller has been subjected to a major global advertising splash ahead of the shows’ second season release on December 26, 2024.

Cover image for Netflix, Duolingo, and the art of engagement in a fiercely competitive attention economy

Saving creators’ time is the beginning – not the end – of the AI revolution

Ben Woods

5 Dec 2024

Creator economy Video Product Strategy

Ask content creators about their pain points and they will tell you that time is their greatest challenge. Despite their passion for producing the best possible content, creators often find themselves bogged down by tasks that hinder their creativity.

Cover image for Saving creators’ time is the beginning – not the end – of the AI revolution

Gamers spend more time on social video than games

Rhys Elliott

5 Dec 2024

Twitch YouTube Xbox

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms such as Twitch and YouTube as springboards for game promotion. In return, Twitch and YouTube receive ad- and creator-driven revenues (like donations).

Cover image for Gamers spend more time on social video than games

© 2025 MIDiA Research Ltd. All Rights Reserved.