Reports: Cultural trends

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, Discord and Clubhouse since the coronavirus-prompted lockdowns, alongside a migration to digital-first life, are early indicators of demand for – and adoption of – social platforms that lend themselves to lean-in entertainment behaviours.

The second iteration of this project is available to download here . Be The Change: Women Making Music Key insights Gendered expectations have skewed recognition and reward in the music industry: of 401 women creators around the world, 81% think that it is harder for female artists to get recognition than male artists Linked to this is the fact that there are not as many female role models for independent creators (81% agree, 49% ‘agree strongly’) Almost two-thirds of female creators identified sexual harassment or objectification as a key challenge, making it by far the most widely-cited problem Sexualisation and objectification are a consequence (or symptom) of unbalanced power dynamics, as shown by the next ‘big three challenges’: ageism (identified by 38%), lack of access to male-dominated industry resources (36%) and lower pay (27%) These major challenges are symptomatic of deeper issues of systemic male dominance permeating industry attitudes and behaviours; over 90% of our respondents said that they had experienced unconscious bias – nearly half of them frequently Music composition, production and sound has long been connected primarily with men, so it is no surprise that the majority of female creators (63%) feel excluded from the composition and production, which makes this aspect of music creation highly ‘genderized’ Although the overall representation of women in society has increased over the past few decades, 84% of women still feel that there exists a perception that women are expected to take on the primary role of parenting duties.

Digital-first access has shaped mainstream consumption, but for digital natives, it has also shaped their core behaviours. Music consumption is now fragmented across artists, becoming a personalised, anytime anywhere activity – making the value exchange more niche and personal.

Digital connections have filled the void left by real-world activities, globalising culture and experience. Yet this comes at the cost of deepening divides in trust and perspective. Changing economic circumstances have brought about a demographic dichotomy of age and income.

Behaviours under coronavirus-driven lockdowns accelerated underlying digital consumption trends. Remote working and ongoing restrictions mean streaming behaviour is up across formats and demographics at the same time that some traditional entertainment formats effectively ceased.

2019 was yet another stand-out year for independent artists, with revenues, streams and market shares all growing strongly. Then, along came COVID-19 and the world turned upside down. However, in lockdown many independent artists found new opportunities and the ability to innovate and create.

COVID-19 is having a clear and direct impact on the entertainment and media industries, driven by investor uncertainty – resulting in plummeting share prices – and restrictions on movement of people leading to quickly-transforming consumer behaviour patterns.

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, media, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2020 and the coming decade. Companies and brands mentioned in...

Ten years on from the credit crunch, the global economy could be poised to enter another economic recession. Many of the underlying causes of the credit crunch remain in place, due to governments lacking the appetite for the structural reform required to right the faults in the global financial system that catalysed the slowdown.

With only 24 hours in a day and an ever-growing number of entertainment services competing for consumer choice to spend them on, consumers have reached the limits of their available time – and therefore attention – to allocate to propositions across the digital market.

The second half of the 2010s have become a watershed moment for news. The combination of the manipulation of social platforms by political agents, the growing effect of consumers’ personal filter bubbles and the quasi-legitimisation of unscrupulous news outlets have undermined audience trust across the whole political spectrum.

Streaming is about to take the gaming world by storm. With new entrants including Google, Amazon, and Verizon, and others to come in the future, the traditionally siloed gaming model is becoming part of a wider cross-format, platform-agnostic play in the attention economy.

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech, across music, video, media, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2019. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: ABC, Alibaba, Alphabet, Amazon, Amazon Prime Video, Apple, Apple Music, AT&T, BBC, BT, BT Sports, BT TV, Bundesliga, Cambridge Analytica, DAZN, Disney, Eleven Sports, Endemol, ESPN, ESPN+, EU, FA Cup, Facebook, Fox, Google, Grey’s Anatomy, HBO, Hitco, IGTV, Instagram, Instagram TV, Jet.

This report is a write up of key themes from one of MIDiA’s 2018 keynotes looking at the key trends, innovations and disruptions that will shape media and technology over the coming years. The full presentation is published online alongside this report.

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker. The survey is fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved between Q4 2016 and Q3 2017 across music, video, games and social.

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker. The survey is fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved between Q4 2016 and Q3 2017 across music, video, games and social.

In this report, we present highlights of content trends from MIDiA’s Quarterly Brand Tracker, a survey fielded in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. This report explores how consumer behaviour evolved between Q4 2016 and Q2 2017 across music, video, games and social.

The live music industry has always had a slightly incongruous relationship with its recorded music industry cousin. Often having to tolerate the record labels’ business being called ‘the music industry’ and equally often, finding itself at the focus of consumer discontent over ticketing practices.

As we correctly predicted, 2016 was the year video ate the world. 2017 is going to be shaped by the battle for consumer attention through formatting and distribution wars. VR is likely to cede further ground to AR, bots will become established, while messaging apps add to their dominant position (even though user growth will slow).

Music video at the end of 2016 finds itself at a crossroads. The original perception of Music video as a sales promotion tool no longer applies in the post-download era, when consumers are now showing a clear preference for streaming rather than buying one-off products.