Reports: Business Strategy

Browse all of our reports, featuring our analysts' expert insights and analysis of audience segmentation, emerging trends and technologies, value chains, market shares, predictions and more – backed by our proprietary survey data and bespoke models & forecasts. Become a subscriber to get new ones every month, or just pick one to get started.

Cover image for Defining podcast taste

Defining podcast taste
The universal appeal of music, news, and comedy

Rutger Rosenborg

17 Jun 2024

Business Strategy

While the epicentre of podcasting revenue is in the West, the listener base has become truly global. According to MIDiA’s podcast forecasts, Asia Pacific already accounts for three times as many podcast listeners as all of North America, and that number will only continue to grow.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

Tim Mulligan, Ben Woods and Mark Qi

30 May 2024

Business Strategy

MIDiA’s global subscription video forecasts captures a broad view of the market. With limited video subscriber growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and increased diversity of monetisation models, such as the introduction of lower cost, ad-supported tiers.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts
Rise of the Global South

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Perry Gresham

23 May 2024

Business Strategy

The 2024 edition of MIDiA’s global music forecast captures a market at a crossroads. With limited streaming user growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and ARPU increases, as well as expansion in emerging markets, albeit at lower ARPU.

Cover image for State of the music video economy

State of the music video economy
Balancing act

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

30 Apr 2024

Consumer behaviour music industry Music publishing

The rise of short-form video, and the resulting shift in value from music videos to music in videos, have upended the music video space. This report unpacks the growth of short-form, the resulting decline in YouTube weekly active user penetration, and the impact on both artist marketing and advertising revenue.

Cover image for Bifurcation theory

Bifurcation theory
How today’s music business will become two

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

18 Apr 2024

Business Strategy

The music business is bifurcating, with streaming emerging as the place for mainstream music and lean-back consumption, and social as the spiritual home of fandom and the creator economy. In this report we will explore how today’s music business challenges are setting in motion a new, bifurcated business.

Cover image for Gamers' time

Gamers' time
Where it is and how to get it

Karol Severin

16 Apr 2024

Business Strategy Product Strategy

With the attention economy saturated, there is next to no incremental entertainment time up for grabs. This comes precisely at a time when more games depend on growing time spent. As games are only the fifth most consumed entertainment activity among PC and console gamers, the path for games to meaningfully grow time spent is to absorb consumers’...

Cover image for Mainstreaming the metaverse

Mainstreaming the metaverse
The Apple Vision Pro and entertainment’s opportunity

Tim Mulligan

11 Apr 2024

Business Strategy

The Q1 2024 US launch of the Apple Vision Pro virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR) device has reignited interest in the metaverse, a bus that has so far stubbornly refused to arrive. Apple’s intent is to deliver at-home immersive VR and AR experiences for affluent but mainstream consumers.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024–2030 global podcast forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024–2030 global podcast forecasts
Road to a $10 billion business

Mark Qi and Rutger Rosenborg

28 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

The temporary digital consumption boom of the pandemic gave way to an inflationary landscape fuelled by global supply chain issues and geopolitical crises. While inflation levelled out in 2023, the residual effects of post-pandemic economics continued to reverberate throughout media and tech.

Cover image for Virtual influencers

Virtual influencers
The opportunity for brands and creative agencies

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2024

Business Strategy Creator economy

Brands and creative agencies can claim a larger slice of the creative economy as adoption of virtual influencer content accelerates. Cheaper to run, with higher productivity rates and more monetisation options, virtual influencers provide an opportunity for brands to secure a greater return on their marketing investment.

Cover image for Recorded music market 2023

Recorded music market 2023
Back to life

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

After a slower 2022, the global recorded music market returned to strong growth in 2023. It was, however, also the first year that the artists direct segment lost market share, with changes to the streaming ecosystem already beginning to take effect. This report presents recorded music market revenues by format as well as market shares for key labe...

Cover image for BE THE CHANGE

BE THE CHANGE
Gender equity in music

Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Sophia Oleksiyenko, Ashleigh Millar, Samuel Griffin and Kazia Rothwell

8 Mar 2024

Free Report

Business Strategy Audience Insight

In many ways, women ruled the music industry in 2023. Women swept the 2024 Grammy Awards, winning all the “big four” categories. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé completed record-breaking tours and, according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the share of women artists on Billboard’s US Hot 100 year-end chart reached a 12-year high of 35%.

Cover image for Audio substitute threat

Audio substitute threat
Measuring consumer time allocation

Rutger Rosenborg

22 Feb 2024

Streaming cannibalization Radio

All forms of entertainment compete not only for the same time, but increasingly for the same digital real estate. As audio streaming platforms move towards all-in-one access to multiple formats, both platforms and content providers must understand the threats of substitution and cannibalisation from within.

Cover image for Music subscriber market shares Q3 2023

Music subscriber market shares Q3 2023
New momentum

Mark Mulligan

30 Jan 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA’s music subscriber market shares report and various MIDiA consumer surveys. All music subscriber data in this report refers to third quarters of each respective year. Numbers are always in millions, unless otherwise stated.

Cover image for Bundling 2.0

Bundling 2.0
Pivoting the cost-of-living crisis into a cross-entertainment growth opportunity

Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

26 Jan 2024

Business Strategy

Bundling can ease pressures caused by the cost-of-living crisis by delivering consumer choice and stable recurring revenues for TV-streaming services. This is not a return to the pay TV model of old, but a simplification of a fragmented entertainment landscape to support streaming TV’s route to profitability.

Cover image for Music and AI

Music and AI
Beyond the hype cycle

Tatiana Cirisano

19 Dec 2023

AI Business Strategy

As with any emerging technology, recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) have set in motion a flurry of excitement and investment, as well as fear and litigation. In this environment, it is crucial to parse what is hype and what is reality.

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2024 predictions report

MIDiA’s 2024 predictions report
The algorithm is not listening

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham, Kazia Rothwell and Ben Woods

14 Dec 2023

Business Strategy

2023 was another year of change and disruption. 2024 will be even more defined by change than the years that preceded it. But much of this change will be defined by reaction more than action. The unintended consequences of years of innovation have resulted in environments where many consumers are getting further away from their wants and needs, not...

Cover image for Music industry earnings H1 2023

Music industry earnings H1 2023
Dawn of the post-streaming era

Tatiana Cirisano

21 Nov 2023

Business Strategy

The post-pandemic revenue bump is settling and challenges, including the cost-of-living crisis and a Russo-Ukrainian war, continue to complicate the global economic climate. This report considers the impact of these factors, and others, in analysing the revenues of leading music companies across recorded music, publishing, live, and streaming for t...

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Radio future vision
Build the new and transform the old

Annie Langston

28 Oct 2023

Business Strategy

Despite extensive efforts by radio broadcasters to redress the digital shift with offerings like podcasts and streaming apps, radio’s audience continues to fall. The fundamental question is: how does radio attract younger audiences that have never been radio natives? Ultimately, radio must act, and fast.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2023-2030 global games industry forecasts

MIDiA Research 2023-2030 global games industry forecasts
Life post-peak

Karol Severin and Perry Gresham

27 Oct 2023

Business Strategy

This report discusses key drivers, inhibitors, and developments that will affect the games industry throughout the remainder of the decade. It offers investors, rightsholders, and distributors a glimpse into what lies ahead, accompanied by strategic recommendations and a plethora of hard to find, business-critical, modelled metrics.

Cover image for Misaligned incentives

Misaligned incentives
The cost of a broken business

Tatiana Cirisano

29 Sep 2023

Business Strategy

Many of the music industry’s current woes can be traced back to misaligned incentives. Current streaming economics push record labels, streaming services, and artists in conflicting directions: Labels chase viral songs to grow market share, streaming services are motivated to lower the cost of licensing music, and artists must venture outside the...

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