Reports: Entertainment and Fandom

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 Music IP as video content

Music IP as video content
Why music fandom is strategically important for D2C

Tim Mulligan

28 Jul 2022

Spotify Vevo Netflix

Music rightsholders are keen to leverage artist IP in an increasingly competitive direct-to-consumer video landscape, where appealing to silver streamers is a strategic play to minimise churn in an era of peak video subscriptions. The monetisable emerging long tail of video streaming, combined with the transformation of music IP into a content asse...

Cover image for Audio creators

Audio creators
The new creative frontier

Annie Langston

27 Jul 2022

Apple Spotify YouTube

While exclusive content deals with celebrity names signposted the audio strategy of many of the market’s big players, audience platforms are already recognising the growing importance of independent audio creators as the market develops and expands.

Cover image for Attention recession impacts on D2C growth

Attention recession impacts on D2C growth

Richard Broadhurst

26 Jul 2022

Subscriptions Streaming Spotify

Weekly active user (WAU) penetration for the top streaming services is now slowing with quarter-on-quarter growth effectively flat for the leading subscription video on demand (SVOD) services. Peak attention is now clearly here for video. The looming attention recession, which is already impacting the wider digital entertainment landscape, will exa...

Cover image for Building a fan economy with Fan-Powered Royalties

Building a fan economy with Fan-Powered Royalties

Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Perry Gresham

12 Jul 2022

Free Report

Creators artist income Streaming economics

Music streaming has helped the music industry return to growth over the past decade, but many creators feel left behind. The streaming economy has reached a point where the creator remuneration gap can no longer be ignored. It is no secret that many music artists are dissatisfied with the relationship between the consumption of their music on strea...

Cover image for Games consumption Q1 2022

Games consumption Q1 2022
Time spent takes centre stage

Karol Severin

30 Jun 2022

games consumption Attention economy time spent on games

Time spent on games is growing in importance as a key performance indicator for the games industry.Whether it is games subscription services deciding which titles and publishers to prioritise in terms of partnerships, or individual games assessing which distributor or console ecosystem to strike an exclusive deal with, right through to planning eff...

Cover image for The streaming retention revolution

The streaming retention revolution
Content is king, distribution is queen, but retention is revolutionary

Tim Mulligan

30 Jun 2022

smart tvs SVOD d2c

With video streaming transitioning into mainstream TV consumption, we have moved into the era of streaming TV. As a result, the early focus on gaining subscribers is making way for the rising challenge of retaining these newly acquired subscribers. Retention is the key metric of the emerging post-growth streaming, with the ratio of weekly active us...

Cover image for Audio audiences

Audio audiences
Millennial listeners and the radio transition

Annie Langston

29 Jun 2022

Apple Spotify SiriusXM

As audio consumption steadily grows from its post-lockdown spike, it is crucial to identify the core audiences who are maintaining their listenership as the attention recession is affecting entertainment. Millennial audiences demonstrate a steady listenership to emerging audio formats while younger listeners have yet to reach consumption potential.

Cover image for The attention recession

The attention recession
Post-peak behaviour

Mark Mulligan

22 Jun 2022

Spotify YouTube Netflix

The global pandemic created a temporary boost to the attention economy, with all forms of entertainment benefiting. As life began to return to normal, this newfound time quickly started to erode, causing growing pains for many entertainment companies.

Cover image for Metaverse

Metaverse
Future scenarios for smart TVs

Tim Mulligan

31 May 2022

Amazon Facebook smart tvs

Metaverse smart TV opportunities are currently nascent as clarity about the overall growth of the metaverse concept is still emergent. From a smart TV OEM perspective, a focus on future-proofing features to accommodate the likely games and VR heavy functionality of early metaverse commercial scenarios will be key.

Cover image for Profiling single-player versus multiplayer gamers

Profiling single-player versus multiplayer gamers
A generational changing of the guard

Karol Severin

31 May 2022

Xbox Facebook Twitter

Though single player remains the preferred games genre for now, multiplayer modes are catching up, particularly among younger gamer segments. As audiences age, multiplayer modes will become increasingly important alongside single-player modes. Both segments will remain important for games companies to pay attention to in the mid to long-term.

Cover image for The Attention Recession

The Attention Recession
How inflation and the pandemic are reshaping entertainment

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

27 May 2022

Free Report

Video Music Games

With the recent announcement of the 0.2 million subscriber drop in Netflix’s Q1 2022 figures, and Spotify seeing slower paid user growth, MIDiA’s predicted attention recession has come into fruition. MIDiA’s in-house analysts take you through the key insights and trends of this new chapter and its implications across music, video, games, mark...

Cover image for Social video

Social video
TikTok sets the pace

Richard Broadhurst

10 May 2022

YouTube digital natives Facebook

Social video is optimising lean-through engagement for digital natives, with simple editing features, filters, and music. Value for younger digital natives (those aged 16-19-years-old) lies in co-creation, sharing and liking. User-generated content (UGC) creation has contributed to the success of short-form video, as users seek to have an impact wi...

Cover image for Esports viewers update

Esports viewers update
A valuable segment with a (solvable) growth problem

Richard Broadhurst

5 May 2022

Vevo Facebook Twitter

Esports currently struggle to attract consumers beyond esports enthusiasts and players of esport-centric titles. Despite growth problems, the esports viewer segment remains valuable. These consumers have large amounts of time and money spent across entertainment, as well as high ad tolerance.

Cover image for Audio ad opportunity

Audio ad opportunity
Niche targeting unlocks attention

Annie Langston

4 May 2022

Apple Spotify YouTube

Podcast advertising is one of the key income sources for both audio platforms and creators alike. Ad agencies and platforms must go ever deeper with targeting capabilities by learning more about the other entertainment habits of audio consumers. Social...

Cover image for Audio consumption

Audio consumption
The entertainment aficionado opportunity

Annie Langston

4 May 2022

Spotify Amazon Google

Streaming platforms are continuing their investment in podcasting despite relatively slow adoption from listeners. Identifying enthusiastic consumer segments will be crucial to accelerating audience growth. Entertainment aficionados (i.e., those who spend more than the average time and money on specific entertainment formats) in music, games, and v...

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Digital collectables and NFTs
Entertainment impacts for the video ecosystem

Tim Mulligan

26 Apr 2022

smart tvs Business Strategy web 3.0

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have caught the attention of the wider media landscape. However, consumer awareness is niche with just 20% of consumers aware of what NFTs are. Despite this, NFTs represent the vanguard of paradigm shifts in consumer access and ownership of media.

Cover image for AVOD

AVOD
A market primed for success

Tim Mulligan

24 Mar 2022

Business Strategy

The leading ad-supported video on demand (AVOD) services in the US have doubled their weekly active users (WAUs) in the past 24 months. While still niche, AVOD is now moving ever closer to mainstream adoption. This is most strikingly seen in the pivot of its userbase, from younger, lower-income demographics to older and wealthier consumers.

Gamer brand fandom
Assessing partnership suitability between games and entertainment brands

Karol Severin

21 Mar 2022

Gaming Entertainment mobile games

Entertainment partnerships in games are booming, with games companies being approached with opportunities from all directions. This increased level of opportunity puts pressure on the available time and resources to properly evaluate each proposal. Simultaneously, the continuous influx of opportunities, coupled with ongoing games release deadlines,...

Cover image for Games companies’ video opportunity

Games companies’ video opportunity
From marketing to monetisation

Karol Severin

16 Mar 2022

Free Report

Streaming Gaming Games

MIDiAs head games analyst, Karol Severin, discusses a key games video opportunity for games companies and games video creators alike, alongside two panellists - CEO of Wormhole Labs and a Twitch content creator. Find the full webinar here Let us know your thoughts on this groundbreaking opportunity via email: info@midiaresearch.

Cover image for Audio audiences

Audio audiences
Steady change

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

28 Feb 2022

Radio radio audiences music radio

Podcasts reinvigorated the audio market, bringing with it the promise of a ‘Netflix moment’ for radio. Though podcast audience growth has not kept pace with industry interest and hype, podcasts have been at the centre of a boom in audio consumption that was accentuated by Covid lockdowns, and that is recalibrating post-pandemic.

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