Spotify Reports from MIDiA Research

Year of change
Themes that will shape entertainment in 2023

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston, Perry Gresham, Samuel Griffin, Ben Woods and Srishti Das

February 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Amazon

This report deep dives into the themes identified in MIDiA’s 2023 predictions report. These themes will drive innovation in the digital entertainment landscape in 2023 across music, video, games, audio,...

Podcast videos
Format blurring expands podcasts’ future

Annie Langston

February 2023

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Podcasts are breaking out of traditional audio and entering the video space, as nearly a quarter of consumers now watch podcast videos monthly. Visual elements for podcasts are becoming a crucial tool...

Kill the campaign
Music marketing needs branding, not direct response

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

February 2023

Streaming

Spotify

Marketing

The debate over a new streaming royalties regime is capturing attention, but economics will not fix the underlying paradigm shifts that are the true cause for streaming’s problems: there is not enough...

Music discovery snapshot Q3 2022
Fandom under threat

Cover image for Music discovery snapshot Q3 2022

Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Music

Despite the hyper-saturated music landscape, music discovery is generally not a problem for most consumers. Gen Z and millennials have similar music discovery habits, but gen Z struggle slightly more with...

Audiobook consumer profile
Following in podcasts’ footsteps

Annie Langston

January 2023

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

The audiobook market is at an important stage of its evolution. Similar to podcasts, the niche format is trying to grow amid heightened competition for consumers’ time and attention, while the looming...

Music industry earnings Q3 2022
Pre-recession growth

Cover image for Music industry earnings Q3 2022

Mark Mulligan

December 2022

Spotify

Pandora

Slacker

The early 2020s saw an influx of capital into the music business, with the promise of music rights being an asset class that was uncorrelated with the wider economy. The irony is that as music catalogue...

The global podcast opportunity
Unlocking format growth

Cover image for The global podcast opportunity

Annie Langston

November 2022

sweden

Spotify

While mainstream media tends to focus on podcast growth in Western territories, understanding digital-audio consumption on a global scale will be key to future growth. Each territory has unique listener...

Closing the background gap
Focused versus background audio listening

Cover image for Closing the background gap

Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

November 2022

Spotify

Radio

YouTube

The rise of attention inflation means that consumers are maximising their limited time by multitasking between various formats, spurring a rise in background consumption. This creates a “new” space...

DSP user profiles
Small is beautiful

Mark Mulligan

November 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Deezer

With streaming music now in its mature growth stage in most leading music markets, differentiation will be key to unlocking further growth pockets. While this will likely require innovation in both product...

Social media marketing is becoming its own cultural moment

Hanna Kahlert and Ashleigh Millar

October 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Facebook

Audiences are changing the ways they interact with entertainment, as well as how they respond to advertising and marketing designed to promote it. Audiences are increasingly creative and engage in lean-through...

Streaming’s next growth phase
The necessity of differentiation

Cover image for Streaming’s next growth phase

Tatiana Cirisano

October 2022

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

DSPs have long been able to grow their subscriber bases despite all offering essentially the same experience. Yet the freemium model is reaching a saturation point, putting slow but steady pressure on...

After digital
The search for a cheaper cultural moment

Hanna Kahlert

October 2022

Spotify

Pandora

SoundCloud

Audiences are becoming ever-more creative and this proclivity will come into its own over the coming period of economic, social, and political turbulence. To reconnect with each other while conserving...

Podcast market value chain
The next investment is the listeners

Cover image for Podcast market value chain

Annie Langston

October 2022

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Investments from major audience platforms in audio infrastructure, such as hosting platforms and advertising, kickstarted the growth of the podcast market. With the basic infrastructure now in place, it...

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...

Entertainment and the recession
How it will be impacted and how it should respond

Cover image for Entertainment and the recession

Mark Mulligan

September 2022

Spotify

Amazon

Netflix

The world is facing a period of change and disruption that is unprecedented in modern times. With so many interconnected dynamics across consumer spending, economic cycles, the climate, and even geo-politics,...

Radio audiences
A window of opportunity

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

September 2022

Streaming Music

Spotify

Radio

Streaming claimed radio’s younger, music-focused audiences while podcasts are now beginning to do the same for older, spoken-word audiences. However, it is not yet determined that the impact needs to...

Attention inflation
How multitasking is reshaping the attention economy

Karol Severin and Perry Gresham

August 2022

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

Entertainment hours are up, but consumption is becoming diluted and losing focus, and is increasingly in the background of other activities. Audiences want to consume more but have no more time to allocate;...

Lean-through consumption
Communities are key

Cover image for Lean-through consumption

Hanna Kahlert

August 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Netflix

Entertainment consumption is increasingly shaped by context, as consumers are driven by attention saturation to overlap behaviours as well as choose between them. Different forms of entertainment are better...

Scenes
A new lens for music marketing

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

August 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Facebook

Entertainment consumption and fandom are fragmenting in the internet era as a result of the steady erosion of linear audiences, the rise of asynchronous consumption, and the increased sophistication of...

Podcast monetisation and remuneration
Balancing creator and platform needs

Cover image for Podcast monetisation and remuneration

Annie Langston

August 2022

Creators

Apple

Spotify

Audio platforms traditionally monetise through advertising and, to a lesser degree, listener subscriptions. However, with the rise of the creator economy and more creators entering the podcast space, platforms...

Reports: Spotify