Reports: Entertainment and Fandom

Explore fandom, identity, scenes and culture across music, games, audio and video. Understand what moves audiences and the new cultural and behavioural themes that shape entertainment today

Cover image for Scenes are the new markets

Scenes are the new markets
Why and how entertainment should go niche

Tatiana Cirisano

6 Mar 2025

Marketing monetisation Entertainment

In 2022, MIDiA introduced scenes as a new lens for marketing music. This report expands on the concept, reintroducing scenes – groups of people whose shared interests, aesthetics, values, behaviours, and vernacular have coalesced into a shared lifestyle – as a wider business strategy reset for all of entertainment.

Cover image for Streaming TV’s fight on social’s stage

Streaming TV’s fight on social’s stage
Tactics for a short-form video future

Ben Woods

28 Feb 2025

Streaming live YouTube

Streaming TV and social platforms have long competed for audience attention but from separate lanes. Now, these roads are merging in the social platforms’ favour as the likes of YouTube and TikTok evolve into kaleidoscopes of entertainment content, from vlogs and music videos to live sport and TV series.

Cover image for MIDiA's gamer segmentation

MIDiA's gamer segmentation
Prioritise why – not just how – players engage with games

Rhys Elliott

25 Feb 2025

Amazon Netflix Gaming

The games landscape is more dynamic and interconnected than ever, demanding a deeper understanding of why players engage with games – not just how. We are proud to introduce MIDiA’s gamer segmentation, which focuses on motivations, attitudes, and underlying reasons behind gaming behaviours.

Cover image for The superfans of music superstars

The superfans of music superstars
Identity and cut-through

Olivia Jones

17 Feb 2025

Labels US Artists

Fandom is becoming the music industry’s golden goose, with labels focusing on building and monetising superfan bases for their top artists. However, superfan behaviours are changing in response to oversaturation and hyper-fragmentation. What once worked for measuring and monetising fandom will not work the same in the future.

Cover image for Audio’s entertainment value

Audio’s entertainment value
Examining audio listeners’ cross-entertainment lives

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

music industry Music streaming Content

Typically, the marketing team for a games company or TV show would not be thinking of audiobooks and podcast listeners as a key consumer segment to address. Yet, podcast and audiobook listeners are digitally sophisticated and spend more time and money than the consumer average on most forms of entertainment – including games, music, and video.

Cover image for MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031

MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031
The market is mature, so double-digit growth is a fantasy

Perry Gresham, Mark Qi and Rhys Elliott

30 Jan 2025

US Global Gaming

Interested in ' MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031' ? Access the free version here . Recent years have been tough for the games market. Like many industries, gaming overextended itself following the black swan event that was the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cover image for Before and after podcasts

Before and after podcasts
Mapping the podcast listener journey

Rutger Rosenborg

17 Jan 2025

US UK France

The global importance of video for podcasting extends into the unique market dynamics of the US, UK, France, Mexico, and Japan. Not only does this justify Spotify’s strategic video push, but it also indicates a need for other platforms to follow suit.

Cover image for What gamers really think about gen AI in games

What gamers really think about gen AI in games
Apathy, not outrage

Rhys Elliott

23 Dec 2024

Audience Insight

Game development budgets have spiralled out of control, leading game executives to cut costs and streamline their game development processes. It is no secret that generative AI (gen AI) is the tech industry’s current buzzword, but its potential is still disputed despite the hype.

Cover image for MIDiA's 2025 predictions webinar slides

MIDiA's 2025 predictions webinar slides
It's social's stage now

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

6 Dec 2024

Free Report

Spotify YouTube Twitch

MIDiA's expert analysts dive into our 2025 predictions for the music, social, video, audio, and games industries – and explain why we believe "it's social's stage now".

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2025 predictions

MIDiA’s 2025 predictions
It’s social’s stage now

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

5 Dec 2024

Apple Spotify YouTube

The creator economy reshaped entertainment in the first half of the 2020s and social wasthe big winner, now positioned at the centre of the entertainment economy. In 2025 wewill see the second-order effects begin to play out, set against the backdrop of attentionsaturation, content commodification, and increased focus on profit.

Cover image for The case for in-game video platforms

The case for in-game video platforms
Closing the direct-to-consumer gap

Karol Severin

29 Nov 2024

Product Strategy

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms like Twitch and YouTube as a springboard to promote their games. Meanwhile, Twitch and YouTube get advertising and creator-driven revenues in return. The relationship has largely been reciprocal and beneficial for both parties.

Cover image for Global South rising

Global South rising
Streaming audiences in China, Turkey, and South Africa

Tatiana Cirisano

28 Nov 2024

Spotify YouTube Deezer

It is increasingly clear that the future of the global music streaming business relies heavily on the Global South markets, which include Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of World. Most subscription growth is coming from these regions, which will collectively dominate the global music subscriber base by 2031, according to MIDiA’s global ...

Cover image for Visionary audio

Visionary audio
Unlocking the power of video in podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

21 Nov 2024

brand partnerships spotify podcasts podcast creators

YouTube may be the only viable platform for long-form video podcasts, but that does not mean audio-first podcast platforms should abandon video. Instead, podcast platforms should leverage video both as a podcast format and as a marketing driver to increase podcast discovery and consumption.

Cover image for Music merchandise demand

Music merchandise demand
Who, what, and where

Tatiana Cirisano

24 Oct 2024

Consumer behaviour cds Spotify

The music merchandise market has transformed, with significantly more artists selling merch and more product variety than ever before. The traditional line between “hard” and “soft” merch is blurring as new generations buy vinyl as a collectible keepsake, rather than a consumption format.

Cover image for Socioeconomics of podcast listening

Socioeconomics of podcast listening
Engaging a higher value audience

Rutger Rosenborg

11 Oct 2024

Creators Subscriptions Radio

Podcasts alone will struggle to monetise via subscriptions, leaving advertising as podcasts’ key source of revenue for the foreseeable future. However, podcasts do attract high-earning, high-spending audiences, which are often hard to reach with conventional advertising.

Cover image for The single-player opportunity

The single-player opportunity
Course correcting from a red to blue ocean

Rhys Elliott

30 Sep 2024

YouTube Netflix Xbox

The AAA PC and console games market is facing growth issues, money is more expensive, and developers are facing pressure to become leaner, more profitable, and take fewer risks. Many game makers, including those that found initial success in single player, have been chasing the live-service trend.

Cover image for Analogue revival

Analogue revival
A cultural pendulum swing

Hanna Kahlert

16 Sep 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 –– but the 'why’ behind the trend needs to be better understood to action the opportunity to its full potential.

Cover image for From casual listeners to podcast purists

From casual listeners to podcast purists
Mapping podcast platform preferences

Rutger Rosenborg

10 Sep 2024

Audience Insight

Consolidation has arrived in audio. As some tech companies turn to a multi-format strategy to keep users engaged, it becomes more difficult for single-format platforms to compete for the same subscriber base. Companies sticking to the single-format vision of podcasting run the risk of losing even more market share to YouTube and Spotify, but there ...

Cover image for The ‘why’ and ‘what’ behind in-game spending

The ‘why’ and ‘what’ behind in-game spending

Karol Severin

29 Aug 2024

Audience Insight

As the games industry matures and global games revenue growth slows down, in-game spending will remain one of the industry’s key growth drivers. Historically, in-game spending was mostly associated with advantage-gaining items. In 2024 however, cosmetic in-game items account for the majority of in-game spending and will be increasing their share ...

Cover image for High tide raises all ships

High tide raises all ships
Leveraging the cultural tidal wave of Grand Theft Auto VI

Rhys Elliott

30 Jul 2024

Audience Insight

Grand Theft Auto VI ( GTA 6 ), due to be released in autumn 2025, is on track to be one of the biggest entertainment launches of all time. It will capture a significant amount of consumer attention. Marketers in and outside of the gaming industry have a choice –– either resist and face the increased challenge of capturing consumer attention dur...

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