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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.

Instagram is becoming Facebook. So where do all the people go?

Hanna Kahlert

18 Jan 2024

Social Instagram Facebook

Facebook is the most used social media platform in Western markets (not including YouTube, which may host user-generated content but is not typically considered in the same category). Yet, the broad consensus, from competitors to Gen Z, is that the platform is ‘dead’.

5 min read

Cover image for Instagram is becoming Facebook. So where do all the people go?

How X can become a leading social video player by fuelling controversy over creativity

Ben Woods

17 Jan 2024

X Twitter elon musk

Elon Musk has celebrated a small win after persuading Jimmy Donaldson – aka Mr Beast – to post a video on Twitter/ X. Until now, X’s attempts to woo the superstar creator have been rebuffed . Mr Beast had spoken openly about how he would only make a small amount of money on X compared to video...

4 min read

Cover image for How X can become a leading social video player by fuelling controversy over creativity

Ghost podcasts are haunting your social feed — what to know about the new ad format

Rutger Rosenborg

17 Jan 2024

Podcasts TikTok Social media

We typically think about podcast advertising in terms of brands advertising their products on podcasts, but an emerging podcast advertising trend is calling into question what a podcast actually is. Rather than advertising on podcasts, brands are starting to advertise as podcasts.

4 min read

Cover image for Ghost podcasts are haunting your social feed — what to know about the new ad format

Why the Stanley tumbler may be half full

Tatiana Cirisano

16 Jan 2024

music industry Social media TikTok

If you were not familiar with the Stanley cup a month ago, you likely are now. Over the holiday season, the 40-ounce tumbler rocketed from being a relatively niche item favourited by moms to the Gen Z stocking stuffer sold-out at Targets everywhere, and now it is seemingly inescapable.

4 min read

Cover image for Why the Stanley tumbler may be half full

Why increased ad-based engagement is hampering Netflix’s revenue growth

Tim Mulligan

16 Jan 2024

Netflix Netflix ARPU Growth Netflix basic with ads

Speaking at the Variety Entertainment Summit in Las Vegas, Netflix’s president of advertising, Amy Reinhard, revealed that the company now has more than 23 million monthly active users globally on its ad tier (up from the 15 million announced in November 2023 one year after launching the plan ).

3 min read

Cover image for Why increased ad-based engagement is hampering Netflix’s revenue growth

For years, we said to take games efforts of these companies seriously – now they are serious players

Karol Severin

12 Jan 2024

Netflix Apple Arcade Games

MIDiA has always been bullish about traditionally non-gaming tech companies’ opportunity in games. The first time we wrote about Netflix’s opportunity in games was in 2017. We also wrote about the significance of Apple Arcade early on ( here , here , and reiterated reasons for the games industry...

5 min read

Cover image for For years, we said to take games efforts of these companies seriously – now they are serious players

Here is how livestreaming can pay its way in 2024 – and creators will not like it

Ben Woods

11 Jan 2024

livestreaming Twitch Creator economy

Twitch has become the latest company to provide a sobering outlook for the creator economy. On Wednesday (January 11th, 2024)chief executive Dan Clancy confirmed press rumours that Twitch would be cutting more than 500 staff from its workforce.

4 min read

Cover image for Here is how livestreaming can pay its way in 2024 – and creators will not like it

The slow-TV opportunity

Samuel Griffin

11 Jan 2024

Video Product Strategy

Since its debut in 2010, Netflix’s Fireplace for Your Home – consisting of three one-hour long episodes of crackling, rolling, digital flames – has been a semi-popular release on the platform. This year, for the first time, however, the show made it into the global top 10 most watched shows du...

4 min read

Cover image for The slow-TV opportunity

Why the era of spatial computing will need its entertainment moment

Tim Mulligan

11 Jan 2024

spatial computing VisionPro Apple

On Monday, Apple announced the February 2ndlaunch date for the Vision Pro. For those unfamiliar with this hybrid augmented reality virtual reality device, it is, in the words of the press release : “A revolutionary spatial computer that transforms how people work, collaborate, connect, relive memo...

4 min read

Cover image for Why the era of spatial computing will need its entertainment moment

Are we approaching an analogue revival?

Hanna Kahlert

11 Jan 2024

analogue dvds Vinyl

It is now 2024 (yikes), and New Year’s resolutions are making the rounds. Anecdotally, at least seven of us at MIDiA have resolved to go more analogue this year. More broadly, many people, alongside the traditional attempts to go to the gym more or do ‘Dry January’, seem to be opting to cut do...

4 min read

Cover image for Are we approaching an analogue revival?

Podcasts have a recommendation problem

Rutger Rosenborg

10 Jan 2024

Audio Podcasts Algorithms

Podcasts do not go viral. A video clip of an out-of-touch tech billionaire stoking controversy might make the rounds on social media, but podcasts themselves — at least since the Serial phenomenon — do not “trend” in the same way that Netflix shows, products on TikTok, and Spotify tracks do.

5 min read

Cover image for Podcasts have a recommendation problem

Smart TV operators are gamifying engagement – here is how they can dial it up a notch

Ben Woods

4 Jan 2024

Smart TV Sky roku

Tracking Father Christmas’ journey on a smartphone app is a festive tradition of the modern era. Much like leaving a carrot out for Rudolf, many families are now logging on come Christmas Eve to keep tabs on his progress via different tracking apps.

5 min read

Cover image for Smart TV operators are gamifying engagement – here is how they can dial it up a notch

Like Netflix, music needs a ‘second screen’ strategy

Tatiana Cirisano

4 Jan 2024

Music streaming Netflix SVOD

The attention economy is more competitive than ever, with all entertainment types increasingly competing with each other for the same finite time. This has led to new levels of multitasking, like listening to a podcast while doing the daily Wordle, or online shopping from your iPhone while catching ...

4 min read

Cover image for Like Netflix, music needs a ‘second screen’ strategy

Audiobooks enter their streaming era, but will it pay off?

Rutger Rosenborg

3 Jan 2024

Audiobooks Spotify Streaming

Most people agree that streaming saved the recorded music industry, but that only happened because demonetised digital consumption helped bring it to the brink of death in the first place. The internet has also helped gut print media over the last two decades.

4 min read

Cover image for Audiobooks enter their streaming era, but will it pay off?

Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse and the blending of fan and franchise

Hanna Kahlert

3 Jan 2024

Disney mickey mouse copyright

Long known for its strict intellectual property strategy, Disney is seeing one of its core characters – the 1928 version of Mickey Mouse – enter the public domain, presenting an excellent case study on how fan engagement in entertainment has evolved in today's digital age.

5 min read

Cover image for Steamboat Willie Mickey Mouse and the blending of fan and franchise

Despite its hyper-futurism, 2023 was a return to the past

Tatiana Cirisano

21 Dec 2023

Social media Music creators fragmentation

From politics to tech to entertainment, the past few years can best be described as unprecedented. In 2023, daily life felt especially futuristic and surreal, with artificial intelligence dominating the discourse.

5 min read

Cover image for Despite its hyper-futurism, 2023 was a return to the past

Will 2024 be the year of podcast unbundling?

Rutger Rosenborg

21 Dec 2023

Podcasts spotify podcasts Spotify

Before Spotify, YouTube, and Netflix disrupted music and video, bundled consumption helped drive profitability. From albums to TV networks, consumer preferences were largely dictated by the bundle, allowing record labels and television providers to leverage the fact that consumers would pay a lot fo...

5 min read

Cover image for Will 2024 be the year of podcast unbundling?

Who will be the winners in video as the walled gardens of entertainment recede?

Ben Woods

21 Dec 2023

YouTube Paramount+ Amazon

Protectionist measures that kept the streaming wars alive are being wound back. Licenced content is back in vogue, despite streaming TV being built on exclusive shows. Competitive tensions are cooling as entertainment looks to bundle services to combat the cost-of-living crisis, and super aggregator...

5 min read

Cover image for Who will be the winners in video as the walled gardens of entertainment recede?

2024 will be a year of change (as if there has not been enough already)

Hanna Kahlert

19 Dec 2023

2024 AI Streaming

Four years ago today, the Covid-19 pandemic was but a rumour on the wind. Since then, it would be an understatement to say that much has changed. Digital entertainment consumption boomed and rapidly overwhelmed all forms of activity, making it almost hard to remember what entertainment was like pre-...

5 min read

Cover image for 2024 will be a year of change (as if there has not been enough already)

Predicting what happens next in video….

Tim Mulligan

19 Dec 2023

2024 predictions video predictions OpenAI

If 2023 was the year of consolidation in video, 2024 is poised to be one of experimentation and disruption. First up, the lag in content output as a result of this year’s writers and actors strikes left significant gaps in new content.

3 min read

Cover image for Predicting what happens next in video….

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