gaming

Move over, console wars – the battle for AAA portable gaming is coming

Rhys Elliott

25 Nov 2024

Sony Xbox playstation 5

Seemingly every manufacturer in the games space is working on a portable machine. Now, Bloomberg sources claim that Sony has started early work on a portable that plays PS5 games. Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, has already confirmed that Xbox is working on its own portable (also per Blo...

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Beyond the screen
How and why gaming merch and collectibles fuel fandom

Brandon Sutton

3 Sep 2025

Marketing Digital Fandom

The physical gaming merchandise and collectibles market is a multibillion-dollar industry that serves as both organic marketing and a way to strengthen community engagement. However, the space has grown increasingly complex due to a surge in fan-made merch, a crowded field of game properties, and economic pressures like the rising cost of living.

Social platforms are eating passive entertainment. Are games eating social?

Hanna Kahlert

22 Oct 2024

Social Social media Gaming

At Sony Music’s Interactive Tech Day in London on 22nd October, gaming was, ironically, the highlight. From artist takeovers of Roblox destinations to concert-type experiences in Fortnite Islands, the company’s music strategy is increasingly crossing over with the gaming world – a goal mirrore...

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Social is eating entertainment
The future of memes, music, social platforms, and beyond

Hanna Kahlert

15 Oct 2024

Product Strategy

Entertainment is now a key reason consumers engage with social platforms, opening new opportunities for social and raising new challenges for traditional entertainment. Social platforms offer not only a place to consume original content IP, but to create content around it, engage with the content discussing and unpacking it, and interact with other...

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Social as the home of online scenes
Going beyond viral moments

Hanna Kahlert

14 Aug 2025

Creators Creators France

In a fragmented digital environment, scenes are becoming important tools for connecting with and mobilising fans. Social platforms can be useful for finding, understanding, and engaging with scenes. However, not all social moments are created equal. This report reveals how social is only part of the bigger picture, and dives deep to show that the c...

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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.

Branded podcasts level up: Ubisoft’s gaming podcasts bring games to life for new audiences

Rutger Rosenborg

7 Jun 2024

Podcasts Gaming Marketing

As the podcast listener base grows , companies across several industries — from automotive to fast food — see podcast production as a way to market to new audiences (sort of like an audio blog). Branded podcasts are nothing new for big games publishers like PlayStation and Xbox.

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Karra, bifurcation, and YouTube’s gain

Mark Mulligan

8 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Streaming Music

A couple of weeks ago, electronic music artist Karra posted a video on YouTube about why she took her album down from streaming (one that she spent $100,000 making). She is now going to focus her efforts on YouTube (“an incredible platform for [her] artistry”), as well as selling content to musi...

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Meta-podcasts are coming for the news, not the podcast industry

Rutger Rosenborg

5 Feb 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Google

Although Google has arguably cornered the podcast market through YouTube already, by employing AI, the company may be making it even harder for competitors to catch up.In October 2024, MIDiA covered the development of NotebookLM and its ability to disrupt the informational and educational podcast sp...

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Are Prime Gaming subscriptions the drug that Twitch cannot live without?

Ben Woods

19 Feb 2024

Twitch Prime Gaming Prime Video

Twitch chief executive Dan Clancy has been quick to reshape the livestreaming platform since taking charge just shy of a year ago. Clancy has cooled competition with YouTube and Kick and taken the wind out of exclusive deals by backing multi-streaming.

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Cover image for The New York Times leverages gaming to level up and stay current

The New York Times leverages gaming to level up and stay current

Rhys Elliott

28 May 2024

Audience Insight

The New York Times ( NYT ) has a history of engaging its audience beyond its core news content as far back as the 1940s, when it first launched its now-iconic crosswords. Since 2014, the news organisation has been doubling down on games as a way to keep its audience (including many older consumers) engaged.

The BBC, Channel 4, and the risk of giving too much to YouTube

Ben Woods

26 Mar 2025

Business Strategy YouTube Netflix

Key insights from this blog: As YouTube has skyrocketed in popularity, it has become an unexpected challenge for the UK's public service broadcasters These broadcasters are also facing challenges from streaming services, which can afford bigger budget productions and big-name talent MIDiA explores h...

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From niche to mainstream: How video games adaptations are taking over movies and television

Brandon Sutton

3 Sep 2025

Product Strategy Entertainment Games

Today’s most successful movies and television shows are video game adaptations. For those who remember the media landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, this represents a marked shift in the entertainment industry.

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Why the video industry should embrace interactive gaming worlds

Ben Woods

23 Nov 2023

streaming tv SVOD linear broadcasters

Reaching audiences is an ongoing challenge for video IP holders, especially those with a stake in traditional broadcasting. There is the conundrum of transitioning linear audiences to streaming TV services.

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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...

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When Bernie Sanders met Sykkuno: how VTubers are taking over social platforms

Ben Woods

31 Oct 2024

Creators Creator economy Video

It made for a curious sight: the US senator Bernie Sanders discussing the upcoming election with Sykkuno , a creator whose digital identity is an anime inspired demi human with cat ears. These two worlds collided last week (October 23, 2024) when Sanders joined a Twitch live stream hosted by superst...

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‘Brat’ summer and the dilemmas of going mainstream

Tatiana Cirisano

29 Aug 2024

Charli XCX BRAT summer music marketing

It has become a rule of thumb that the moment corporate America begins capitalising on a trend, that trend begins to die. Cultural fragmentation has helped niches and scenes flourish, but it has also left large corporations that depend on mainstream products hungry for relevance — and willing to d...

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Saving creators’ time is the beginning – not the end – of the AI revolution

Ben Woods

5 Dec 2024

Creator economy Video Product Strategy

Ask content creators about their pain points and they will tell you that time is their greatest challenge. Despite their passion for producing the best possible content, creators often find themselves bogged down by tasks that hinder their creativity.

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Data Explorer

Gaming Penetration

The cultural pendulum swing is coming back around

Tatiana Cirisano

11 Apr 2024

Music streaming Superfans Music fandom

Across culture, there is an eerie sense of things coming full circle. After spending the past decade building an industry around ad-free streaming TV, Netflix has ads and feels increasingly like cable .

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