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 Radio WAUs

Radio WAUs
Blurring broadcast lines

Annie Langston

3 Jul 2023

Spotify Radio iHeart

The radio industry has traditionally thought in terms of monthly audiences and reach rather than engagement. It is time for the radio industry to start thinking in terms of weekly engagement so that it can better benchmark itself against the wider picture of digital entertainment It is time for radio to think in terms of weekly active users (WAUs) ...

Cover image for Live sport 2.0

Live sport 2.0
Capturing younger audiences with the creator economy

Ben Woods

1 Jun 2023

YouTube Apple TV Twitch

The funding model for live sports has created fissures between older viewers who can afford to pay a premium for live access and younger audiences who either cannot, or do not want to. While older generations are accustomed to paying for access to content, younger generations grew up in a world with accessible content galore.

Cover image for Fandom and identity

Fandom and identity
For fans, entertainment goes beyond enjoyment of content

Hanna Kahlert

1 Jun 2023

YouTube Instagram Snapchat

Across entertainment, fandom is used to judge, predict, and generate successful commissioning and distribution strategies. Fandom indicates reliable audiences who will spend money on propositions and come back for more at the next instalment. It shows who will buy merchandise, attend shows and events, or purchase in-game cosmetics.

Cover image for US SVOD consumer podcast engagement

US SVOD consumer podcast engagement
Audio is the new spinoff

Annie Langston

1 Jun 2023

Apple Apple Spotify

As consumer attention fragments across platforms and content types, it is increasingly important for both streaming subscription video services and podcast creators to maximise their content reach. For streaming subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, podcasts provide new opportunities to reach and retain audiences.

Cover image for Burnishing the back catalogue

Burnishing the back catalogue
Retention in an inflationary era

Ben Woods

2 May 2023

Spotify Netflix Disney

With inflation squeezing commissioning budgets, streaming-TV services are battling to demonstrate value to consumers who risk churning under pressure from the cost-of-living crisis. The big spend on new shows to grow playbook is not only unsustainable, but also out-of-step with the consumer appetite for classic content.

Cover image for Pre-empting video piracy in the streaming TV era

Pre-empting video piracy in the streaming TV era

Tim Mulligan

2 May 2023

Netflix Netflix Business Strategy

Video piracy had been downgraded as a significant disruptive risk in the era of subscription video on demand (SVOD) and free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST). While peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing piracy is a declining niche activity at 7% penetration, streaming piracy is has slightly increased to 10% as the cost-of living crisis and recessionary f...

Cover image for Podcasts and gamers

Podcasts and gamers
How audio can propel the gaming universe

Annie Langston and Kazia Rothwell

2 May 2023

Spotify Spotify YouTube

The rise of games-inspired content is taking entertainment by storm. This illustrates the power of not only games content itself, but the fandoms that keep it alive, revealing an audience for other entertainment formats to tap into. As games aficionados over-index for a variety of podcasting behaviours, podcasts are an opportunity for games compani...

Cover image for Games purchasing by format

Games purchasing by format
Brick and mortar is not dead

Karol Severin

2 May 2023

Audience Insight

This report presents a Q1 2023 snapshot of US gamers who bought at least one game within a six-month period (between October 2022 and March 2023). This is broken down by physical versus digital format and digital versus physical distribution channel. It covers: % of gamers who purchased a game in a physical format through a physical (brick and mort...

Cover image for The great monetisation reset

The great monetisation reset
New ways to monetise streaming video audiences

Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

12 Apr 2023

Free Report

Product Strategy

This keynote took place at the beginning of the MIDiA webinar:The great monetisation reset |New ways to monetise streaming video audiences. The full presentation, panel, and Q&A session, can be found on LinkedIn and YouTube ....

Cover image for Profiling Steam users

Profiling Steam users
A valuable gamer niche

Karol Severin

6 Apr 2023

YouTube Amazon Netflix

For two decades now, Steam has been one of the go-to digital game distributors, particularly for computer gamers and developers. Yet, its weekly active audience does not quite reflect a fully representative sample of computer gamers. Rather, Steam’s weekly active users (WAUs) are a specific niche of gamers, characterised by their demographics, ge...

Cover image for Podcasts and music streaming

Podcasts and music streaming
Mirrored growth

Annie Langston

3 Apr 2023

Apple Apple iTunes

The economic recession, and related layoffs at major podcasting divisions, have some questioning the future of the format. However, podcasts are following a similar trajectory as music did in its transition to streaming and have reached critical mass — 26% consumer penetration — faster than music streaming subscriptions did.

Cover image for US millennial snapshot

US millennial snapshot
A looming generational blind spot

Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

3 Apr 2023

Spotify YouTube Deezer

In the US, 25-34-year-olds are the music industry’s most valuable segment. Yet their relationship with streaming is tenuous. Streaming is not meeting these consumers’ need for a more social, less algorithm-driven experience. What is more, they appear most likely to give their subscriptions up.

Cover image for Ad-supported video consumer snapshot Q4 2022

Ad-supported video consumer snapshot Q4 2022
US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, and Brazil

Tim Mulligan

1 Apr 2023

Audience Insight

This report presents a snapshot of ad-supported video users, including age breakdowns, time spent on video (subscription video on demand (SVOD), ad-supported video on demand (AVOD), and pay-per-view), responsiveness to ads, devices used, and TV genre preferences.

Cover image for Rebooting video fandom

Rebooting video fandom
Games as a video streaming genre

Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Perry Gresham, Samuel Griffin and Ben Woods

20 Mar 2023

Apple Apple TV Netflix

With gamers being mainstream, video streaming services and their content offerings can benefit by increasing focus on the preferences of gamers. Crucially, this enables subscription video on demand (SVOD) services to drive engagement, broaden reach and improve retention.

Cover image for The AI entertainment revolution

The AI entertainment revolution
How artificial intelligence will reshape media consumption

Hanna Kahlert, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

20 Mar 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 consumers, creators, and industry leaders alike.

Cover image for Music’s Instagram moment

Music’s Instagram moment
The social music creation revolution

Tatiana Cirisano

1 Mar 2023

Consumer behaviour Apple Spotify

Social media has steadily integrated music, and music creation tools have steadily become more social. These trends are converging, accelerated by shifts in consumer behaviour and artificial intelligence (AI). The result could be a new set of music creation and re-creation tools, integrated within social platforms and geared towards casual consumer...

Cover image for Podcasts and radio

Podcasts and radio
How radio can play by its own rules

Annie Langston

1 Mar 2023

Spotify live Radio

Radio set the stage for music streaming and podcasts, only to watch them take portions of its audience. However, there is a clear opportunity for radio companies to assert themselves in the podcast market, drawing on decades of programming expertise to retain audiences and find new ones.

Cover image for Digital advertising reception of gamers, Q4 2022

Digital advertising reception of gamers, Q4 2022

Karol Severin

1 Mar 2023

Audience Insight

This report presents a Q4 2022 snapshot of gamers’ reception to various types of digital advertisements. It covers: Display / banner advertisements Video advertisements Video advertisements in mobile games Audio advertisements Advertisements that are relevant to the consumer Advertisements in services that consumers already pay for Gamer segments...

Cover image for Attention economy

Attention economy
Reasons, not ways, to spend attention

Hanna Kahlert

1 Mar 2023

Spotify YouTube Netflix

Audiences are consuming in different ways, on different platforms, and at different times – from lean-back passive viewing, to lean-forward on-demand, lean-in social engagement, and lean-through creation. Web 3.0, largely driven by AI, will not change this.

Cover image for TV monetisation

TV monetisation
The third way

Tim Mulligan

28 Feb 2023

Comcast asia pacific NBCUniversal

The slowing of subscription growth in developed markets means that streaming services have to look both towards post-subscription and post-advertising models. A focus on retention will maintain downward pressure on subscription price elasticity, compounded by the need to ration advertising loads to minimise churn.

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