Cultural trends

What happens to entertainment in a gamified US economy?

Cover image for What happens to entertainment in a gamified US economy?
Hanna Kahlert
Cultural trends
US
News
Key takeaways from this blog: President Trump'sproposed tariffshave shaken the stock market, with trust in the US economy weakening Unpredictable policies, including the US TikTok ban, are making conditions difficult for businesses that operate across multiple countries With this uncertainty in the US, the world is looking towards rising markets for stability, growth, and new opportunities News in the second week of April 2025 has been dominated by tariffs and the impacted US stock market.
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Cultural movements
A new take on mainstream for the fragmentation era

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Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano
Entertainment
mainstream
Cultural trends
Entertainment has become nichified, mainstream has become smaller, and audiences have fragmented. While this has been crucial to the rise of the long tail and the creator economy, there is a need for a new, fragmentation-era successor to mainstream. Building upon MIDiA’s work on scenes, in this report we make the case for cultural movements, the cultural pyramid, and how entertainment audiences operate in the fragmentation era.
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Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet

Cover image for Online culture is fragmenting: Why White Lotus spoilers are not flooding the internet
Hanna Kahlert
Cultural trends
TikTok
Streaming
Key takeaways from this blog: Audience fragmentation is growing, with platforms like TikTok losing influence and shows like White Lotus thriving in niche, offline conversations Oversaturation of content is making it hard for entertainment to create shared cultural moments As MIDiA explores in our 'Analogue revival' report , Culture is moving offline, as people seek real-world connections and entertainment companies need to adapt to a fragmented digital landscape White Lotus is not the internet viral darling that shows like Tiger King or Game of Thrones (GoT) once were.
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If the internet dies, where does all the attention go?

Cover image for If the internet dies, where does all the attention go?
Hanna Kahlert
Cultural trends
TikTok
Instagram
Key takeaways from this blog: Social platforms dominate culture, but a vibe shift toward offline experiences is emerging as users crave more intentional, less addictive engagement (as explored in MIDiA's' Analogue revival ' report) TikTok’s recent disruption signals a loss of cultural centrality, with no clear successor, leading to fragmented attention across platforms and offline spaces Brands and creators must rethink reliance on shallow metrics and embrace taste-led, context-aware strategies, focusing on sentiment and human nuance over empty virality Consumers no longer need to leave their social feeds.
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Music is losing a generation of young men

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Kriss Thakrar
Music
Social media
Entertainment
Key insights from this blog: Netflix’s hit Adolescence has renewed conversation around the radicalisation of young men, particularly in online spaces MIDiA’s research highlights that all entertainment is becoming increasingly gendered, with social media platforms displaying a growing gender gap amongst young users However, this issue also extends to music, with live music attendance amongst young men plummeting and their spending on video games overtaking music (including live) Over the past year, there has been increasing attention on the flailing state of young men in Western societies.
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How the DNA of a hit changed in the last five years

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Olivia Jones
Cultural trends
Music
Music streaming
Key insights from this blog: The second installment of MIDiA's "DNA of a hit" blog series looks at how the hits on Billboard's Top 10 chart have changed in the last five years Key MIDiA data highlights the struggles for songwriters and the importance of YouTube for music consumption We predict that the charts in 2030 will reflect the increasing fragmentation of consumer behaviour Almost five years ago, MIDiA published “How the DNA of a hit has changed over 20 years” , examining structural differences between the Billboard Top 10 tracks of July 2000 and July 2020.
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Meritocracy only works if the door is open in the first place: International Women’s Day in 2025

Cover image for Meritocracy only works if the door is open in the first place: International Women’s Day in 2025
Hanna Kahlert
Cultural trends
consumers
women in music
Key insights from this blog: This International Women's Day, celebrations of women's accomplishments were overshadowed by industry developments and political decisions Women are consumers too – it is in businesses' best interest to give women access to the rooms where the decisions about events, products, and advertising aimed at them are made MIDiA's findings from the landmark ' BE THE CHANGE ' report further highlight the issues for women in music (that urgently need to be addressed by the industry) This weekend saw the celebration of International Women’s Day.
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