Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

Game Pass’ updates mark a new era for Xbox

Rhys Elliott

19 Jul 2024

Xbox recently announced significant changes to its subscription offering ahead of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 hitting the service. In September 2024, Xbox is: Increasing prices for Game Pass Ultimate from $16.

min read

Why comments on Spotify podcasts are more about YouTube than community

Rutger Rosenborg

17 Jul 2024

Spotify

YouTube

youtube podcasts

In September 2021, Spotify launched the Q&A and polls features for podcasts on the platform. The impetus, according to Spotify’s For the Record blog, was to make podcasts more of a two-way street and “community-building medium.

min read

The case for shorter games

Karol Severin

11 Jul 2024

AA games

Attention economy

Games

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.

min read

MIDiA launches video creator economy vertical as AI delivers transformative growth

Ben Woods

11 Jul 2024

Social video

Video

Business Strategy

Keeping step with AI’s impact on the video creation industry can be a daunting prospect. Ways of working that have existed for decades are being reorientated around generative AI tools. With these changes comes opportunities, risks and plenty of questions: AI is poised to open the gates to more en...

min read

Audio advertising: What podcasts can learn from radio

Rutger Rosenborg

11 Jul 2024

Audio

Business Strategy

Radio

Radio has been the dominant audio format for a century — and arguably, it still is. According to MIDiA’s Q1 2024 Consumer Survey , 49% of respondents in all tracked markets (excluding China) say they listen to radio weekly.

min read

Platoon just quietly raised the bar for songwriter services

Tatiana Cirisano

11 Jul 2024

songwriting

Music

Business Strategy

Over the past few months, singer-songwriter RAYE has been using her spotlight to campaign for fairer pay for songwriters — advocating for them to receive royalty points on master recordings, per diems for studio time, and more.

min read

The state of the video creator economy
Creativity in a streamlined world

Cover image for The state of the video creator economy

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

July 2024

Business Strategy

Creator economy

The video creator tools industry is primed for turbo-charged growth as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the consumerisation of creation. While the opportunity is significant, a considered approach is needed to ensure AI elevates the creator economy’s success at turning passive consumers into monetisable creators.

Bigger is not always better
Premium gaming’s AA opportunity

Cover image for Bigger is not always better

Rhys Elliott

July 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.

Hardware’s AI moment will help video creators do more with less

Ben Woods

3 Jul 2024

Video creator tools

Social video

video production

It has been a tumultuous time for hardware companies working in video creation. Revenues have been impacted by two forces: a tough macroeconomic climate and industrial action. High inflation has knocked consumer confidence, while the Hollywood Strikes have either delayed major TV and movie productio...

min read

From X to Instagram, the line between social video and podcasts is blurring

Rutger Rosenborg

3 Jul 2024

Podcasts

Social media

Social video

As the podcast industry wakes up to the fact that video podcasts are growing –– and fast –– MIDiA’s 2024-2030 podcast forecasts confirm the source of much of that growth: YouTube. YouTube video market share is already the largest among all platforms where podcasts are available, having sho...

min read

The end of the debate: Why streaming TV and politics no longer mix

Tim Mulligan

2 Jul 2024

Online video

Video

Audience Insight

The “entertainmentisation” of Western politics has successfully re-energised political discourse after decades of consensus politics and has resulted in policy making that has negatively impacted voters, both economically and environmentally.

min read

How DistroKid can leverage its podcast partnership to help artists tell their stories

Rutger Rosenborg

27 Jun 2024

Podcasts

DistroKid

music distribution

On the heels of MIDiA’s report “ Defining podcast taste: The universal appeal of music, news, and comedy ”, podcast network Evergreen Podcasts and independent music distributor DistroKid announced a sponsorship deal.

min read

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

Tatiana Cirisano and Hanna Kahlert

June 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.

Why Netflix is likely to follow Amazon down the mainstream subscriber ad route

Tim Mulligan

25 Jun 2024

Netflix

Amazon

advertising

Netflix’s shift towards ads was underpinned by a strategic assumption that it could justifiably command ad rates at nearly twice the market average. However, two years of its Basic with Ads service has proved that advertising is a much tougher business to succeed in for an SVOD service than the bu...

min read

Video churn
Streaming TV’s cord-cutting moment

Tim Mulligan

June 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.

TikTok’s music master plan is coming into focus

Tatiana Cirisano

20 Jun 2024

TikTok

Social media

music consumption

Oh how the tables have turned. Just a few months removed from its very public clash with Universal Music Group over music licences, TikTok is reportedly looking to buy up music rights of its own. Not only would this ease TikTok’s reliance on licences, but it would also presumably allow TikTok to p...

min read

Gamers
A cross-entertainment summary

Karol Severin

June 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...

The ad monetisation trap and what it means for video

Tim Mulligan

18 Jun 2024

ads

SVOD

Ad-supported SVOD

Ads in subscription video on demand (SVOD) have now become normalised. In Q1 2024, Amazon Prime became the latest service to push ads onto its standard SVOD plan, following the lead of competitors Netflix and Disney.

min read

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

Rutger Rosenborg

June 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.

Xbox’s Games Showcase points to a reckoning for game subscriptions

Rhys Elliott

13 Jun 2024

Xbox Game Pass

Xbox

Games

“Play it day one with Game Pass.” These words flashed on the screen 15 times during the Xbox Games Showcase 2024, which wowed critics and fans alike with a lineup of 30 Xbox games. Most of the titles are coming in 2024 or 2025, which is a huge turning point for Xbox.

min read