Product Strategy | MIDiA Research

The four key cultural trends transforming digital entertainment in 2021 and beyond

Hanna Kahlert

August 2021

live

Amazon

The effect of streaming on entertainment is not new, but as we move into the era of mainstream vaccinations, the shifts in streaming-driven consumer behaviour over the last year and a half will drive fundamental...

Sports fan consumer snapshot, Q2 2021
US, Canada, Australia, UK, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, Brazil

Cover image for Sports fan consumer snapshot, Q2 2021

Tim Mulligan

August 2021

Streaming

Video

Fandom

This slide deck presents sports fan consumer demand, covering video services, live TV sports viewing, sports highlight viewing, free live digital sports viewing, device viewing, sports betting, fantasy...

Hip hop fandom is driving the music business' future in gaming, live streaming and beyond

Kriss Thakrar

17 Aug 2021

Fortnite

Fandom

gaming

The music industry is at a pivot point as new ways of interacting and monetising music arise with unprecedented speed. Kanye West’s Donda live stream generating $7 million in merch sales demonstrates...

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The music industry’s gaming experience is growing beyond traditional sync and licensing

Srishti Das

13 Aug 2021

virtual concert

gaming

virtual events

The pandemic didn’t give rise to live streaming concerts. However, it played a key role in their rapid adoption over the last 18 months. Virtual events were kickstarted with 327 million streams of online...

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A handful of sports dominate fandom among esports viewers, but opportunity still exists for many

Karol Severin

11 Aug 2021

esports

Sports

Fandom

Sports are increasingly executing on the overlap between gaming and esports. A handful of sports have established a strong foothold and lead among esports viewers. Data shows, however, that the still-emerging...

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Why Spotify’s creator strategy needs to pay more attention to fans

Kriss Thakrar

10 Aug 2021

Spotify

Streaming

Fandom

Spotify’s shift towards becoming an audio platform encompasses a push to become a creator-first business, with a vision of 50 million creators supplying content to a billion users. However, the company’s...

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Fandom’s Icarus phenomenon: The hype cycle of the attention economy

Hanna Kahlert

6 Aug 2021

Fandom

attention economy peak

attention economy

Fandom is now entrenched as the success determinator of the saturated attention economy. With so much entertainment competing at all times, it is sentiment which draws audiences back for more. Rather than...

min read

What is an artist in the age of creators?

Kriss Thakrar

26 Jul 2021

Strategy

Marketing

YouTube

MIDiA has previously explored what it means to be a superstar in today’s industry. Here we go deeper into the fundamental of what it is to be an artist. YouTuber, boxer and rapper KSI achieved his first...

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Why music underpins the culture of our ‘new normal’

Hanna Kahlert

22 Jul 2021

Music

Media and Marketing

Audience Insight

The recent UK DCMS committee findings on streaming – namely, that artists should receive a greater share of streaming revenues – is merely one facet of the growing pains of a music industry reshaped...

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Euro 2020 – a pandemic-driven standout success

Hanna Kahlert

15 Jul 2021

Euro 2020

UEFA

football

This last weekend saw the finals of the delayed UEFA Euro 2020, with Italy the winners. Footage of crowds over the preceding week’s semi-finals showed crowds flooding the streets; social media feeds...

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Is 2021 the start of the great content reset?

Hanna Kahlert

8 Jul 2021

Media and Marketing

Music

Video

The coronavirus pandemic has hastened a shift to digital life, creating unprecedented opportunity for entertainment. Streaming is now the default for video and music consumption for mainstream consumers,...

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Instagram continues to perform strongly despite inconsistent brand identity

Hanna Kahlert

30 Jun 2021

Media and Marketing

Instagram

social media

Over the last few months Instagram has done its best to capitalise on the latest social media success tactics, often at the cost of its own original user proposition. The photo-sharing app for friends...

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The content versus culture conundrum

Hanna Kahlert

3 Jun 2021

Fandom

tulsa

Mad Men

Creating something which will please audiences in the moment and also have resonant staying power among the surrounding culture is a puzzle faced by the content strategists of today. It is also the age-old...

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UGC vs. Premium: Is the video valuation bubble big enough to burst?

Hanna Kahlert

21 May 2021

Media

Streaming

Mobile content

The market disconnect between the proliferation of independent content creators and the consolidation of brand IP into the hands of ever-fewer major players is growing increasingly stark. On the one hand,...

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Growth drivers – what comes after streaming

Mark Mulligan

7 May 2021

Streaming

growth drivers

fitness

The pandemic-defined 2020 was an outlier year across digital entertainment, with the extra 12% of time consumers spent with entertainment boosting everything, including music. One of the effects was that...

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Fandom vs Format: Formula One is driving through a new sprint format to push engagement

Srishti Das

30 Apr 2021

Strategy

Formula One

Sports

Formula One was one of the many hard-hit sports with the onset of COVID-19 due to its fanless stands. The sport found itself in a crunch with limited sponsorship deals, as cities backing out due to the...

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How should we celebrate fame in today’s music business?

Keith Jopling

29 Apr 2021

music industry

Marketing

Music

Doom scrolling on socials is something I try to avoid, but like most 21st century humans living through the pandemic life, I occasionally fall short. Such as this weekend when scrolling through Instagram...

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The case for next-generation spectator modes in games

Karol Severin

26 Apr 2021

spectator mode

games video

lean-in

The increasing need for digital expression, co-creation, and managing friction in the saturated attention economy presents a lucrative opportunity to bring the in-game spectating experience to the next...

min read

Super League feels the cost of forgetting fans

Hanna Kahlert

23 Apr 2021

Super League

Sports

football

Sports has an age problem among its audiences. Around half of consumers over the age of 45 watch live sports on TV, dropping to less than a third of those under the age of 24 as of Q1 2021 (source: MIDiA...

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Lockdown & Dragons: Fantasy proves the fandom effect

Hanna Kahlert

8 Apr 2021

Games

Media and Marketing

Fandom

With vaccine rollouts gaining momentum, the post-COVID attention crunch is looming large for the digital entertainment propositions which have all experienced booms over lockdown. The competition is on...

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