Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

What is the value of a stream in 2025?

Olivia Jones

31 Jul 2025

More parties than ever are becoming frustrated with streaming. For evenmany successful artists, streaming is a minority income stream, as fandom-related endeavours like live performances, merchandise, and brand deals prove to be more lucrative.

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More than hype: Why gamers cannot wait for GTA VI

Brandon Sutton

30 Jul 2025

Fandom

Entertainment

Gaming

Critically acclaimed, financially dominant, and still hyper-relevant more than a decade after its last release, the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) series sits at the summit of the video game industry. Given this sustained success, it is no surprise that anticipation is high for the next instalment in the se...

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The future of creator apps
Fuelling engagement with fandom

Cover image for The future of creator apps

Ben Woods

July 2025

Creators

Spotify

Artists

The AI boom has unleashed a wave of creator tools, but some are struggling to make the transition from interesting and experimental to compulsive and essential. Fandom offers a solution by tying creation to a consumer’s personal passion, appetite for community engagement and a desire to have a stake in the entertainment they love.

Why legacy media should use creators as curators and content providers

Ben Woods

23 Jul 2025

Business Strategy

Fandom

Entertainment

Much of the traditional entertainment world is now working with creators. In fact, many of these companies have long-standing creator strategies when it comes to marketing. Whether it is a movie launch, a new TV series, video game, or album release, these businesses have a strong handle on which cre...

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Music consumer behaviour Q1 2025
Mixed signals

Cover image for Music consumer behaviour Q1 2025

Mark Mulligan

July 2025

Consumer behaviour

Streaming

France

This report presents MIDiA Research consumer data for music. Data covered includes weekly active users, streaming music behaviour, non-streaming behaviour, fandom activity, and audio consumption. All data is from MIDiA’s Q1 2025 survey, with data for US, UK, Australia, Canada, France, Poland, Spain, Colombia, Japan, n = 9,023.

Building fandom is about the journey, not the destination

Hanna Kahlert

15 Jul 2025

Fandom

Entertainment

Media

“Superfans” remain the headline topic for the entertainment industries , in music and beyond. They are the biggest cheerleaders amongst their peers, the most engaged on social media and streaming, and the highest spenders across the board.

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Why podcasts triumph in real-life settings: a lesson in scene alignment

Laura Fisher

10 Jul 2025

Fandom

Podcasts

Audio

Podcasts are well and truly getting the in-real-life treatment. What began as a digitally native on-demand medium is now commanding physical spaces with remarkable success. This isn’t from the live recordings in and of themselves, but from mastering scene alignment .

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Why fandom’s ‘more is more’ era could backfire

Olivia Jones

9 Jul 2025

Marketing Strategy

Fandom

Social media

‘Less is more’ has long been a pillar of entertainment marketing strategy, promoting the importance of quality over quantity. However, in the past decade, the new phrase has effectively become “more is more” as all forms of entertainment push to release as much content as possible, as often ...

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Streaming is both retail and radio – it shouldn’t be

Mark Mulligan

26 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming

Fandom

In a brutally simplified view of the past, the recorded music industry had two lanes: retail and radio. Piracy killed retail. Streaming killed piracy, then went on to, if not kill, then seriously maim radio.

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Apple, Stormzy, and the new Hollywood

Ben Woods

25 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

Apple

Fandom

How do broadcasters and traditional filmmakers adapt to a YouTube world? It is a question that has hung over the video industry’s old guard for some time now. Yet, social video is nothing new; YouTube is 20 years old, and the creator economy is already worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

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International success for local language artists
A strategic playbook

Cover image for International success for local language artists

Laura Fisher

June 2025

UK

France

Spotify

The music industry is undergoing a paradigm shift. Success once required artists to fit the traditional industry model where anglicisation and relocation to traditional hubs like Los Angeles, New York, or London were prerequisites. Streaming platforms have democratised access, enabling artists to achieve international fame while remaining culturall...

Why HYBE expanding into China is a bigger deal than you think

Olivia Jones

17 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

Fandom

Korean and Chinese labels have been a hot topic in the news lately. First, HYBE sold its entire 9.38% stake in fellow South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment to Chinese music streaming giant Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) for approximately $177 million USD (per Music Business Worldwid...

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Live isn’t dead, it just needs a WhatsApp group: why gatekeeping is due for a comeback

Hanna Kahlert

12 Jun 2025

Cultural trends

TikTok

Social media

The live scene is, allegedly, in an uphill battle. Festivals face cancellations, travel costs are rising, and grassroots venues are struggling. Success stories like the ‘Eras’ tour and the Oasis reunion boosted year-on-year stats within the industry, but is this a sign of long-term growth or mer...

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India market focus
A fandom and AI-forward online population

Hanna Kahlert

June 2025

YouTube

Facebook

Fandom

Online Indian consumers are expected to be early movers. They are high entertainment consumers, AI enthusiasts, and high spenders – especially on fandom. This report explores a population that is an early adopter, format-agnostic, mobile-first audience, with huge growth potential.

Why WEBTOON could pose a challenge to Crunchyroll’s anime strategy

Ben Woods

3 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

SVOD

Fandom

Anime is having a moment in Western markets. Signals of its popularity are continuously flashing across the entertainment industry, from the Naruto -inspired celebrations of Tottenham Hotspur striker Dominic Solanke to Dolce & Gabbana’s high fashion collaboration with JUJUTSU KAISEN.

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What Western DSPs can learn from Tencent Music’s SVIP Tier

Olivia Jones

29 May 2025

Business Strategy

Music streaming

Fandom

Tencent Music Entertainment (TME) has had a lucrative Q1 2025, with Super VIP (SVIP) subscriptions driving revenue growth. According to the company’s earnings report, music subscription revenue grew 16.

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20 years ago, labels targeted fandom. Will it work the second time around?

Tatiana Cirisano

27 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming

Music streaming

The New York Times headline “ The New Deal: Band As Brand ” would not look out of place in today’s pages. In the article, the writer explores how record labels are responding to a need to diversify revenue streams by seeking to monetise fandom, via expanded rights deals.

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Flipping the script
Game IP transmedia needs to evolve

Rhys Elliott

May 2025

Amazon

Netflix

Xbox

The entertainment landscape is changing. As superhero fatigue sets in, game IP is now dominating screens, from HBO’s The Last of Us to the Minecraft movie. Unlike movie trends (Westerns, superhero movies), the game-to-movie trend is here to stay, as the games market is a cross-genre treasure trove of beloved IP and fandom, with new IP arriving fr...

Unintended consequences – the year ahead for streaming

Mark Mulligan

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming

Subscriptions

Streaming may be maturing from a revenue perspective but with two-tier (‘artist centric’) licensing and supremium, 2025 is set to be a year of transformative change in both product and business terms.

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Are we reaching peak fandom?

Mark Mulligan

1 May 2025

Business Strategy

Streaming

Music

With streaming revenue growth slowing to 6.2% in 2024, the recorded music industry’s attention is firmly fixed on superfans as the ‘get out of jail free’ card. The growing sophistication of artist merch has reached the stage where fans can buy Taylor Swift fashion bags and shop her jewelry ran...

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