Reports: Spotify

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.

Podcasts and gamers
How audio can propel the gaming universe

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Annie Langston and Kazia Rothwell

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 companies to turn many of the adverse effects of attention inflation into opportunities to drive fandom, engagement, and revenue along the way.

AI and the future of music
The future is already here

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Mark Mulligan, Hanna Kahlert and Tatiana Cirisano

May 2023

Spotify

SoundCloud

Netflix

Unlike most new technology hype cycles, the impact that artificial intelligence (AI) has on the world is already surpassing expectations. Within the music industry, AI will largely be an enabler and accelerant of already-existing trends and market shifts: the growth of self-releasing artists, the consumerisation of music-making, and the resulting oversaturation and hyper-fragmentation of the market.

Artists direct
Focus on passion, not professionalism

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Tatiana Cirisano

May 2023

Spotify

Spotify

SoundCloud

All eyes of the music business are on artists direct, the fastest-growing segment of the industry. But the 6.4 million artists in this segment are far from a unified group, and have varied aspirations, challenges, and needs. MIDiA’s 2023 creator survey reflects that the two largest sub-segments of artists direct are those who seek full-time music careers; and those who are passionate about music, but not seeking a full-time career.

Burnishing the back catalogue
Retention in an inflationary era

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Ben Woods

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.

Web 3.0 is here
Navigating the new culture of digital entertainment

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Hanna Kahlert

May 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Netflix

AI has already hit entertainment at the industry level – and the impacts on audience culture will not be far behind. A variety of AI tools are now readily available on ‘fremium’ tiers at a consumer level. Companies may be looking towards what the new world of web 3.

Podcasts and music streaming
Mirrored growth

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Annie Langston

April 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.

US millennial snapshot
A looming generational blind spot

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Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

April 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.

Podcasts and music streaming
Mirrored growth

Cover image for Podcasts and music streaming

Annie Langston

April 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.

Attention economy
Reasons, not ways, to spend attention

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Hanna Kahlert

March 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.

Podcasts and radio
How radio can play by its own rules

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Annie Langston

March 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.

Music’s Instagram moment
The social music creation revolution

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Tatiana Cirisano

March 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 consumers.

Year of change
Themes that will shape entertainment in 2023

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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, cultural trends, and the creator economy. Expect 2023 to be a of period significant disruption and innovation forced upon the digital entertainment industry, as nearly two decades of uninterrupted growth makes way for consumer-led disruption that is driven by a reduction in discretionary spending, attention, and willingness to make do with tired old formats.

Podcast videos
Format blurring expands podcasts’ future

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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 to reach new audiences and engage current listeners.

Kill the campaign
Music marketing needs branding, not direct response

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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 money to go around for the ballooning amount of music on streaming services, and passive consumption is the new norm.

Music discovery snapshot Q3 2022
Fandom under threat

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Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2023

Spotify

YouTube

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 discovery and are more influenced by TikTok, while millennials are perhaps the last generation to see radio as a main source of music discovery.

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 recession puts subscriptions growth and retention under pressure.

Music industry earnings Q3 2022
Pre-recession growth

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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 investments slowed (due to rising costs of capital), the first nine months of 2022 saw the music business deliver a performance that suggests the industry is indeed setting a path that is not being pulled down by recessionary conditions as much as many other industries.

The global podcast opportunity
Unlocking format growth

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Annie Langston

November 2022

Sweden

Spotify

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 demographics and genre preferences that present various opportunities for podcast platforms, illustrating that podcast habits vary globally.

Closing the background gap
Focused versus background audio listening

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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 for platforms to compete for consumers’ time. Among entertainment formats, audio is best placed to conquer background listening, but music streaming is more easily relegated to the background than podcasts.

The global podcast opportunity
Unlocking format growth

Cover image for The global podcast opportunity

Annie Langston

November 2022

Sweden

Spotify

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 demographics and genre preferences that present various opportunities for podcast platforms, illustrating that podcast habits vary globally.

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