Blog: Engagement

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.

All eyes, no ears: New MIDiA data shows why virality is not building fandom

Tatiana Cirisano

16 Sep 2025

Business Strategy Fandom Music

Over the past five years, social video has crept its way into nearly every aspect of music, from talent scouting to new release marketing. But the buzz around these platforms often obscures a more complicated reality.

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Beyond the anecdote: The need for a data-driven superfan definition

Laura Fisher

10 Sep 2025

Fandom Entertainment Engagement

Whether you work in the entertainment industry or not, you have almost certainly used the term superfan . It’s a ubiquitous label we apply to the most ardent audiences. It’s the fans who camp out for new releases, who own every variant of a vinyl, who drive viral moments, and whose identities ar...

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What traditional media can learn from sports fandom’s bifurcation moment

Ben Woods

15 Aug 2025

Fandom Entertainment Engagement

Too often, fans are categorised as one amorphous group. They can be lumped together regardless of their age, purchasing power, community engagement, or entertainment consumption behaviours. Fans are a diverse group and always have been.

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Netflix ramps up games spending: A strategic bet on the future of streaming

Brandon Sutton

7 Aug 2025

Business Strategy Netflix Streaming

During its Q2 FY2025 earnings call, Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters announced plans to increase investment into its gaming division (via GameSpot ). At first glance, this move may seem surprising, given the company’s rocky experience in the gaming space so far.

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Fandom as a multi-layered experience

Laura Fisher

6 Aug 2025

Fandom Engagement Attention

In today’s hyper-connected digital landscape, fandom is often misunderstood as a static identity, a label adopted after buying a concert ticket or streaming an album. This passive view misses the essence of what makes fandom so compelling.

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Mainstream meets Fandom: How entertainment and creators can thrive together

Ben Woods

5 Aug 2025

Fandom Creators Creator economy

Fandom is evolving into a more powerful force within entertainment. The value gap between what entertainment IP holders produce and what fans can create is narrowing fast. This has implications for audience engagement.

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Why Drake’s ‘Which One’ single is not a TikTok-first track

Hanna Kahlert

29 Jul 2025

Music Content Social

Drake’s new single ‘Which One’, featuring Central Cee dropped on July 25, 2025 –not abnormal. Less normal: he launched it with no warning halfway through a 41-minute episode of Iceman , a YouTube series he is streaming in advance of his album of the same name.

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What to do when the medium loses meaning

Laura Fisher

17 Jul 2025

Business Strategy Entertainment Content

We are living through a peculiar moment in media evolution, where the traditional categories used to organising content – TV, radio, podcast, film – are collapsing under their own weight. Not because they are obsolete, but because they do not reflect how audiences are consuming media.

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Building fandom is about the journey, not the destination

Hanna Kahlert

15 Jul 2025

Fandom Entertainment Media

“Superfans” remain the headline topic for the entertainment industries , in music and beyond. They are the biggest cheerleaders amongst their peers, the most engaged on social media and streaming, and the highest spenders across the board.

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YouTubers want greater government support – and British broadcasters could help

Ben Woods

8 Jul 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Creator economy

Governments often struggle to keep pace with technological change. This can be frustrating for young but growing industries that need ministerial support to unlock the next stages of their economic potential.

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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...

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Fandom reciprocity: Why sustaining a community requires give and take

Laura Fisher

9 Apr 2025

Fandom Instagram Music

Key takeaways from this blog: Fandoms are becoming two-way relationships, with artists like AJ Tracey and Maverick Sabre involving fans through grassroots gigs, remix contests, and fan-led tour decisions Fans want real engagement, not just content – prompting artists and labels to hire community m...

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

Olivia Jones

4 Apr 2025

Fandom Streaming SoundCloud

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?

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...

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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...

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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.

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Why do gamers play games? Half say mainly to relax, but the other half has different goals

Rhys Elliott

6 Mar 2025

Audience Insight Games Gaming

We are proud to have launched our new gamer segmentation , which focuses on motivations, attitudes, and underlying reasons behind gaming behaviours. This article zooms in on some key data and insights from our segmentation, based on both qualitative and quantitative data.

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YouTube is winning emerging markets by being social – and format-flexible

Hanna Kahlert

5 Mar 2025

Audience Insight Cultural trends YouTube

In English-speaking markets (and much of Europe), entertainment consumption is split across a large number of digital platforms, segmented largely by content format, rights access, and legacy uptake. It is also fragmented across devices: smart TVs, smartphones, laptops, and consoles all play big rol...

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Mining fandom: Music’s Drive to Survive moment

Ben Woods

28 Feb 2025

Marketing Strategy Netflix Music

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

Olivia Jones

27 Feb 2025

Fandom Streaming Music

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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