YouTube Reports from MIDiA Research

Music discovery snapshot Q4 2024
Breaking through the noise

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Olivia Jones

March 2025

Breaking through the noise is more important than ever for artists. As passive listening grows, facilitating active discovery has become a challenge. On top of this, the way consumers discover music is...

The audio creator opportunity
Audio creator behaviours and monetisation potential

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Rutger Rosenborg

March 2025

Creators

Subscriptions

Spotify

Historically, YouTubers and TikTok influencers have received the lion’s share of mainstream attention as a creator class – but audio creators are increasingly active on the same digital platforms and...

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

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Ben Woods

February 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...

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

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

December 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".

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

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2025 predictions

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

December 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...

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

Tatiana Cirisano

November 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...

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global social forecasts
New frontiers and strong growth ahead

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Hanna Kahlert and Mark Qi

November 2024

YouTube

Facebook

Instagram

More than ever, social platforms are the de facto way that consumers interact not only with entertainment but with the internet itself. As internet access expands in emerging markets and social platforms...

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

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Rhys Elliott

September 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...

Songwriters take the stage
A new playbook for a new era

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Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

July 2024

Streaming

Spotify

music industry

The streaming era upended the already-fraught business of being a songwriter, pushing songwriters to secure new revenue streams and better deal terms. While the recorded music industry has responded to...

State of the music video economy
Balancing act

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Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

April 2024

Consumer behaviour

music industry

music publishing

The rise of short-form video, and the resulting shift in value from music videos to music in videos, have upended the music video space. This report unpacks the growth of short-form, the resulting decline...

The state and future of music fandom
Unleashing fan creativity

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Tatiana Cirisano

August 2023

Spotify

YouTube

SoundCloud

Streaming is buckling under the weight of new music being released every day, listenership is fragmenting, and artificial intelligence is poised to intensify these challenges. The music industry’s next...

Not all social entertainment behaviour is created equal
Audience deep dive

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Hanna Kahlert

July 2023

Spotify

YouTube

xbox

Social is an integral part of entertainment consumption This report presents key data and insights about the advanced overlaps between social behaviour (both on digital platforms and in real life) and...

US SVOD consumer podcast engagement
Audio is the new spinoff

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Annie Langston

June 2023

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...

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

Hanna Kahlert

June 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...

Live sport 2.0
Capturing younger audiences with the creator economy

Ben Woods

June 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...

Podcasts and gamers
How audio can propel the gaming universe

Annie Langston and Kazia Rothwell

May 2023

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...

Web 3.0 is here
Navigating the new culture of digital entertainment

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...

Profiling Steam users
A valuable gamer niche

Karol Severin

April 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...

Bridging the creator gap
Monetising social video’s micro-communities

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Samuel Griffin and Ben Woods

April 2023

Subscriptions

YouTube

Twitch

The pandemic-induced boom in content creation has saturated social video platforms at a time when creators are battling a downturn in digital advertising revenues. These dual pressures of less exposure...

Podcasts and music streaming
Mirrored growth

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Annie Langston

April 2023

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...

Reports: YouTube