Cultural trends Reports from MIDiA Research

Cultural movements
A new take on mainstream for the fragmentation era

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

April 2025

Entertainment has become nichified, mainstream has become smaller, and audiences have fragmented. While this has been crucial to the rise of the long tail and the creator economy, there is a need for a...

Creators and the creator economy
Defining the undefinable

Cover image for Creators and the creator economy

Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert and Ben Woods

January 2025

Creators

Cultural trends

Creator economy

20 years since the launch of YouTube, the creator economy is not new – but it lacks a single clear definition. Different interest groups who interact with it all have their perspectives, but this lack...

Analogue revival
A cultural pendulum swing

Hanna Kahlert

September 2024

Cultural trends

From the dumb phone trend to a vinyl revival, analogue has been back on the rise in the cultural zeitgeist. This could shake up the digital ecosystem and unlock potential opportunities for entertainment...

Death of the town square
Social fragmentation and a decentralised digital future

Cover image for Death of the town square

Hanna Kahlert

June 2024

Cultural trends

Social platforms have long ‘civilised’ the online world by providing common gathering grounds, but internal disruption and proliferating competition threaten this status quo. While the dominant players...

The AI entertainment revolution
How artificial intelligence will reshape media consumption

Cover image for The AI entertainment revolution

Hanna Kahlert, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

March 2023

Innovation

Creators

YouTube

2023 has been jump-started by rapid progression in the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). From the launch of ChatGPT to AI-powered DJs, this technology is revolutionising common practices, impacting...

Reintroducing scarcity
How entertainment can find value amid the growing digital clutter

Hanna Kahlert

February 2023

Apple TV

Disney

Instagram

Games, sports, music, video, audio, and social content all compete not only for consumers’ attention (and money), but also their fandom. However, the oversaturation of content is devaluing entertainment...

Social 2.0
Social media’s survival of the fittest, and how marketers fit in

Ashleigh Millar

December 2022

YouTube

Netflix

Facebook

The history of social media has long been defined by continual evolution and iteration, but now shifts across the value chain are becoming more substantive, heralding a new era. Social platforms themselves...

The shift indoors
Entertainment audiences’ search for the affordable and the meaningful

Hanna Kahlert

September 2022

Apple TV

Netflix

Disney

The Covid-19 entertainment boom is over; we are now in a highly competitive attention recession characterised largely by the attention inflation driven from accelerating rates of multitasking. This is...

State of the music creator economy
Post-lockdown growth

Cover image for State of the music creator economy

Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

September 2022

Apple

Spotify

live

The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money...

Games’ cultural role in the 2020s

Karol Severin

September 2022

Games

Epic Games

Cultural trends

Over time, games have carved out their role from the cultural fringes, through tobecoming a firmly established part of digital-consumer culture. Now, they have the opportunity to become theepicentreof...

Re-creating the creator economy

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston and Richard Broadhurst

August 2022

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

Streaming first democratised the means of consumption, then distribution, and now production. Though the promise of the long tail may not have materialised quite as expected, long-tail and mid-tail creators...

Consumers as creators
The artist / audience line is blurring

Hanna Kahlert

April 2022

Consumer behaviour

Apple

Netflix

The growing independent artists sector, the rise of user-generated content (UGC), and the proliferation of basic creator tools on social platforms are all interlinked parts of the same cultural trend:...

Hybrid futures
MIDiA 2022 predictions

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

Free Report

Social media

Business Strategy

MIDiA Research Predictions

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2022 predictions, and why we believe it will be ' the year of the creator '. Watch the webinar here ....

Fandom drivers
From fan psychology to NFT demand

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Srishti Das and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2022

superfan

Spotify

merchandise

Fandom is entertainment’s growth currency, yet it remains both under-valued and poorly understood. While other entertainment currencies can be accurately measured (number of streams, number of sales,...

Fandom and lean-in culture are reshaping video

Hanna Kahlert

December 2021

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

To compete in the new hyper-saturated attention economy, entertainment propositions must tap into audience sentiment to generate fandom and understand where they fit in the lives and habits of audiences....

From social media to creator tools
The evolution of UGC

Cover image for From social media to creator tools

Hanna Kahlert

September 2021

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

Entertainment is suffering intense competition as audience attention time, already saturated before the pandemic, is hit by the gradual return of ‘in real life’ activities. A flurry of new propositions...

Music creator tools forecast
Moving towards a hybrid future

Cover image for Music creator tools forecast

Mark Mulligan

September 2021

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Once upon a time, music software and hardware were distinct market segments, but now they are increasingly fusing into a network of hybrid creator tools ecosystems. Standalone hardware still has a vibrant...

The four key cultural trends transforming digital entertainment in 2021 and beyond

Hanna Kahlert

August 2021

Marketing

live

Amazon

The effect of streaming on entertainment is not new, but as we move into the era of mainstream vaccinations, the shifts in streaming-driven consumer behaviour over the last year and a half will drive fundamental...

Monetising Fandom
Unlocking growth beyond games

Karol Severin

April 2021

Free Report

digital content

Games

cross-entertainment strategy

Beyond gaming to cross-entertainment partnerships webinar slides - 22-04-2021

Social media reboot
The rise of social 2.0 and the emancipation of the digital native

Hanna Kahlert

April 2021

Innovation

YouTube

Social media is entering a new phase of innovation. Facebook’s trio of applications, alongside Snapchat, Twitter and other incumbents, still have market dominance. However, the rapid growth of TikTok,...

Reports: Cultural trends