Blog

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.

Cultural forecasting: how socio-economic moods can predict trends

Laura Fisher

26 Mar 2025

Cultural trends Music Entertainment

The entertainment industry is at a pivot point. For decades success relied on spotting emerging trends and amplifying them. This reactive model worked when cultural movements developed slowly through physical spaces and regional scenes.

4 min read

Cover image for Cultural forecasting: how socio-economic moods can predict trends

Suno, Alexa, and the rise of ‘create to consume’

Ben Woods

21 Mar 2025

Alexa suno Creator economy

This blog was created with collaborative inputs from Ben Woods, Mark Mulligan , Tatiana Cirisano , and Kriss Thakrar . It is hard to think about generative AI without coming back to copyright. There is a pressing need to find IP safeguards before even more copyrighted content is used to train AI mo...

4 min read

Cover image for Suno, Alexa, and the rise of ‘create to consume’

20% of gamers love couch co-op: Split Fiction’s success is proof players want more

Rhys Elliott

20 Mar 2025

Audience Insight Games Gaming

Key insights from this blog: MIDiA's research shows that a significant portion of gamers consider couch co-op a favourite genre. The runaway success of Split Fiction supports these findings Producing more couch co-op games would cater to gamer segments that MIDiA has identified as being underserved,...

9 min read

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The music industry’s weakest link: Getting from A to B

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Fandom Artists

Key insights from this blog: The music industry is missing a key step when it comes to supporting and growing artists As the landscape of the industry has changed, most notably a loss of a mainstream monoculture, the traditional ways of discovery and promotion no longer work for new and smaller arti...

5 min read

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Live and direct: lessons for streamers from the appeal of online radio

Laura Fisher

20 Mar 2025

Audience Insight Music Audio

Key insights from this blog: Online radio has a growing audience, with further opportunity to capitalise on what is missing from music streaming We explore why online radio is gaining popularity – covering the elements of loyalty, dynamism, and humanity – and explain how this connects to MIDiA's...

6 min read

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With “short-form audiobooks”, Spotify has become an independent book publisher

Rutger Rosenborg

19 Mar 2025

Product Strategy Spotify Audio

On the heels of Spotify’s embrace of AI-generated audiobooks through their partnership with ElevenLabs, the streaming giant is looking to further democratise and monetise audiobooks. On March 13, Spotify’s For the Record blog announced a new publishing program aimed at independent authors publis...

3 min read

Cover image for With “short-form audiobooks”, Spotify has become an independent book publisher

Why ads in DMs are not the solution Instagram wants them to be

Hanna Kahlert

18 Mar 2025

Audience Insight Instagram advertising

Key insights from this blog: Instagram's direct messaging features have become a core component of the platform; MIDiA data highlights that the majority of social media users log in to the platform to keep up to date with friends As Instagram's Feeds – and subsequently its Stories feature – have...

5 min read

Cover image for Why ads in DMs are not the solution Instagram wants them to be

A model for a new music streaming industry

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2025

Business Strategy Spotify YouTube

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.

6 min read

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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...

3 min read

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How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

Olivia Jones

14 Mar 2025

Cultural trends Music Music streaming

Key insights from this blog: The second installment of MIDiA's "DNA of a hit" blog series looks at how the hits on Billboard's Top 10 chart have changed in the last five years Key MIDiA data highlights the struggles for songwriters and the importance of YouTube for music consumption We predict that ...

5 min read

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Recorded music market 2024: $36.2 billion, up 6.5%

Mark Mulligan

13 Mar 2025

Music Recorded music Business Strategy

MIDiA has just released its annual recorded music market shares report. Clients can access the full report and the accompanying massive (!) data set here . For the rest of you, here are some highlights from the report.

4 min read

Cover image for Recorded music market 2024: $36.2 billion, up 6.5%

Live orchestras and game-specific songs: Death Stranding is a masterclass in harmonising games and music

Rhys Elliott

13 Mar 2025

Marketing Strategy Fandom Music

Key insights from this blog: There is ample opportunity for the games industry to leverage music to its advantage Key MIDiA data highlights that real-world live concerts using game music AND artists recording original music specifically for games are two underutilised strategies The music industry i...

8 min read

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Meritocracy only works if the door is open in the first place: International Women’s Day in 2025

Hanna Kahlert

11 Mar 2025

Cultural trends consumers women in music

Key insights from this blog: This International Women's Day, celebrations of women's accomplishments were overshadowed by industry developments and political decisions Women are consumers too – it is in businesses' best interest to give women access to the rooms where the decisions about events, p...

6 min read

Cover image for Meritocracy only works if the door is open in the first place: International Women’s Day in 2025

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.

3 min read

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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.

6 min read

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

Scenes 2.0 | MIDiA’s updated entertainment playbook

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Mar 2025

Fandom Music Artists

In 2022, MIDiA introduced scenes as a new playbook for music marketing . As entertainment consumption fragments, what was once a singular “mainstream” is being replaced by hundreds of thousands of smaller scenes, or subcultures – like gorpcore, hyperpop fans, or retro gamers.

5 min read

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Podcasting has finally become profitable, but question marks remain

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Mar 2025

Product Strategy Spotify YouTube

Throughout 2023 and into 2024, you might have thought the sky was falling for podcasting. Layoffs and show cancellations had many in the industry wondering if there would be any financial future for the format.

3 min read

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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...

5 min read

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

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.

4 min read

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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.

2 min read

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