Reports

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 Bigger is not always better

Bigger is not always better
Premium gaming’s AA opportunity

Rhys Elliott

9 Jul 2024

Business Strategy

Following the post-pandemic slowdown of global games revenue growth, cost-cutting measures are now in full force. However, games continue to grow in scope and length with budgets often exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars, while growth and profitability are increasingly challenging to achieve.

Cover image for The state of music AI

The state of music AI
The consumer opportunity lies in modification, not generation

Tatiana Cirisano and Hanna Kahlert

27 Jun 2024

Consumer behaviour music industry Music publishing

MIDiA previously predicted that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) would accelerate music’s “Instagram moment”, where consumers could create and remix music as easily and often as they post photos and videos on social media. However, just because everyone can do these things does not mean everyone will want to.

Cover image for Video churn

Video churn
Streaming TV’s cord-cutting moment

Tim Mulligan

20 Jun 2024

Business Strategy

Global subscriber growth is maturing while incomes are becoming constrained and alternatives to streaming TV are proliferating. For the first time in the history of subscription video on demand (SVOD), churn is accelerating and becoming a systemic issue now that streaming is supplanting traditional pay TV.

Cover image for Gamers

Gamers
A cross-entertainment summary

Karol Severin

18 Jun 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents the key figures, behaviors, and preferences of gamers across entertainment. Graphics in this report show selected gamer segments, compared to relevant consumer segments across entertainment as appropriate. An accompanying Excel file provides country-by-country figures and data for 60+ additional gamer segments, including by gam...

Cover image for Defining podcast taste

Defining podcast taste
The universal appeal of music, news, and comedy

Rutger Rosenborg

17 Jun 2024

Business Strategy

While the epicentre of podcasting revenue is in the West, the listener base has become truly global. According to MIDiA’s podcast forecasts, Asia Pacific already accounts for three times as many podcast listeners as all of North America, and that number will only continue to grow.

Cover image for Death of the town square

Death of the town square
Social fragmentation and a decentralised digital future

Hanna Kahlert

13 Jun 2024

Cultural trends

Social platforms have long ‘civilised’ the online world by providing common gathering grounds, but internal disruption and proliferating competition threaten this status quo. While the dominant players are unlikely to change substantially, competition, on-platform feature fragmentation, and algorithmic ‘filter bubbles’ will dilute social pl...

Cover image for Sustainability from chaos

Sustainability from chaos
How today’s artists find sustainable success in a turbulent music industry

Mark Mulligan, Keith Jopling, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Sophia Oleksiyenko, Fernanda Balzaretti and Ula Kalkyte

10 Jun 2024

Free Report

Audience Insight

Success in the modern music industry has been transformed by the streaming era. Previous markers and methods, such as national charts and radio plays, have been replaced by streaming playlists and social platforms. Yet, while executives can look at high-level metrics across their portfolios, individual artists struggle with the increasingly persona...

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global subscription video forecasts

Tim Mulligan, Ben Woods and Mark Qi

30 May 2024

Business Strategy

MIDiA’s global subscription video forecasts captures a broad view of the market. With limited video subscriber growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and increased diversity of monetisation models, such as the introduction of lower cost, ad-supported tiers.

Cover image for Golden years, golden opportunity

Golden years, golden opportunity
Older gamers are a key growth opportunity in a challenging games market

Rhys Elliott

28 May 2024

Audience Insight

Unlike in the past, gamers are now sticking with games through adulthood and into old age, leading to a growing segment of older gamers. Older gamers are a valuable segment posing a key growth opportunity for games companies in a stagnant market. Yet, most game makers do not currently cater to older gamers.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music forecasts
Rise of the Global South

Mark Mulligan, Tatiana Cirisano and Perry Gresham

23 May 2024

Business Strategy

The 2024 edition of MIDiA’s global music forecast captures a market at a crossroads. With limited streaming user growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and ARPU increases, as well as expansion in emerging markets, albeit at lower ARPU.

Cover image for State of the music video economy

State of the music video economy
Balancing act

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

30 Apr 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 in YouTube weekly active user penetration, and the impact on both artist marketing and advertising revenue.

Cover image for Niche is mainstream

Niche is mainstream
How scenes, niche aggregators, and creators will reshape entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

25 Apr 2024

Audience Insight

As niche officially becomes mainstream, the entertainment industry faces a delicate balance. Audiences are losing interest in broad, mainstream propositions, but hyper-personalised niches are inherently difficult to scale and monetise while retaining what made them special to fans in the first place.

Cover image for Bifurcation theory

Bifurcation theory
How today’s music business will become two

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

18 Apr 2024

Business Strategy

The music business is bifurcating, with streaming emerging as the place for mainstream music and lean-back consumption, and social as the spiritual home of fandom and the creator economy. In this report we will explore how today’s music business challenges are setting in motion a new, bifurcated business.

Cover image for Gamers' time

Gamers' time
Where it is and how to get it

Karol Severin

16 Apr 2024

Business Strategy Product Strategy

With the attention economy saturated, there is next to no incremental entertainment time up for grabs. This comes precisely at a time when more games depend on growing time spent. As games are only the fifth most consumed entertainment activity among PC and console gamers, the path for games to meaningfully grow time spent is to absorb consumers’...

Cover image for Mainstreaming the metaverse

Mainstreaming the metaverse
The Apple Vision Pro and entertainment’s opportunity

Tim Mulligan

11 Apr 2024

Business Strategy

The Q1 2024 US launch of the Apple Vision Pro virtual reality (VR) / augmented reality (AR) device has reignited interest in the metaverse, a bus that has so far stubbornly refused to arrive. Apple’s intent is to deliver at-home immersive VR and AR experiences for affluent but mainstream consumers.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024–2030 global podcast forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024–2030 global podcast forecasts
Road to a $10 billion business

Mark Qi and Rutger Rosenborg

28 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

The temporary digital consumption boom of the pandemic gave way to an inflationary landscape fuelled by global supply chain issues and geopolitical crises. While inflation levelled out in 2023, the residual effects of post-pandemic economics continued to reverberate throughout media and tech.

Cover image for Virtual influencers

Virtual influencers
The opportunity for brands and creative agencies

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2024

Business Strategy Creator economy

Brands and creative agencies can claim a larger slice of the creative economy as adoption of virtual influencer content accelerates. Cheaper to run, with higher productivity rates and more monetisation options, virtual influencers provide an opportunity for brands to secure a greater return on their marketing investment.

Cover image for MIDiA Research Panel Creator Survey

MIDiA Research Panel Creator Survey
2023

Kazia Rothwell

21 Mar 2024

Audience Insight

Key data and insights included in this report: Analysis of MIDIA Research’s creator panel, including age, gender, and region Type of creative content produced by panel creators Time, money, and, earnings of creators Analysis of drivers and major inhibitors...

Cover image for Recorded music market 2023

Recorded music market 2023
Back to life

Mark Mulligan

18 Mar 2024

Business Strategy

After a slower 2022, the global recorded music market returned to strong growth in 2023. It was, however, also the first year that the artists direct segment lost market share, with changes to the streaming ecosystem already beginning to take effect. This report presents recorded music market revenues by format as well as market shares for key labe...

Cover image for BE THE CHANGE

BE THE CHANGE
Gender equity in music

Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Sophia Oleksiyenko, Ashleigh Millar, Samuel Griffin and Kazia Rothwell

8 Mar 2024

Free Report

Business Strategy Audience Insight

In many ways, women ruled the music industry in 2023. Women swept the 2024 Grammy Awards, winning all the “big four” categories. Taylor Swift and Beyoncé completed record-breaking tours and, according to the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, the share of women artists on Billboard’s US Hot 100 year-end chart reached a 12-year high of 35%.

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