The rise of short-form video, and the resulting shift in value from music videos to music in videos, have upended the music video space. This report unpacks the growth of short-form, the resulting decline in YouTube weekly active user penetration, and the impact on both artist marketing and advertising revenue.| MIDiA Research
This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music consumer behaviours and company financials for 2024. Consumer data covered includes, streaming app usage, music behaviour, and streaming activities. Company financials covers record labels, music publishers, DSPs, and live music companies.| MIDiA Research
Competition among social platforms is intensifying, with attention largely saturated and new regulations poised to upset the balance of power among incumbents. While growth is left in the overall market, it will largely be driven by YouTube and a cohort of smaller disruptor platforms – with fragmentation happening as these disruptors begin to eat...| MIDiA Research
The social marketplace has been growing – but attention is a finite resource, as is consumer time. As a result, audience attention is fragmenting across many different apps, with the biggest – YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok –still dominating.| MIDiA Research
In June 2025, MIDiA made a call that WEBTOON , the vertical scrolling digital comic app, could pose a greater challenge to anime’s leading subscription streaming service, Crunchyroll. The conclusion was made based on the potential for WEBTOON to deliver a more compelling in-app offer around video. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
This post builds on our January 2025 post ‘The unflattening of music’ which itself built on two previous pieces (you can find links to both in that post). Industries arrive at pivot points when an accumulation of fissures coalesce into one big crack. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
When Nintendo announced the Switch 2 would release this year, it had big shoes to fill. Its predecessor has become one of the best-selling consoles in history; surpassed only by the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS in total sales. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Too often, fans are categorised as one amorphous group. They can be lumped together regardless of their age, purchasing power, community engagement, or entertainment consumption behaviours. Fans are a diverse group and always have been. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Have you noticed how many festival lineups this summer feature the same handful of artists? I have, and, crucially, fans are noticing it too. Where festival billings once offered a window into a distinctive scene, today’s lineups are merging into a wave of homogenised big-name experiences. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Meta’s Instagram has begun rolling out a new ‘Maps’ feature, similar to Snapchat’s (but with added privacy concerns). It has also rolled out a new ‘friends’ tab on the Reels page, allowing users to see videos already liked by others they follow, seemingly weighted by the friends they int...| MIDiA Research
This report presents data from the 2023 MIDiA Research Independent Record Label survey The survey was fielded across three months in 2023, closing in May2023, with a sample size of Topics covered in the survey include revenue by source, concerns and priorities,...| MIDiA Research
Social is an integral part of entertainment consumption This report presents key data and insights about the advanced overlaps between social behaviour (both on digital platforms and in real life) and entertainment consumption. It looks at data from nine markets, featuring segments of social platform users and the audiences of different forms of en...| MIDiA Research
A variety of economic factors and stock market volatility during the coronavirus pandemic helped establish music as an attractive asset class for institutional investors. With labels, publishers, institutional investors, and newly launched funds now competing for the same diminishing pool of evergreen catalogue, competition and prices are high.| MIDiA Research
Typically, the marketing team for a games company or TV show would not be thinking of audiobooks and podcast listeners as a key consumer segment to address. Yet, podcast and audiobook listeners are digitally sophisticated and spend more time and money than the consumer average on most forms of entertainment – including games, music, and video.| MIDiA Research
This report presents MIDiA’s audio consumer survey data with a view to understand the global audio consumer.This report is a compilation of the most recent MIDiA audio data. Key data in this report: Platforms that monthly listeners use to access  ...| MIDiA Research
In March, on the heels of a Danish man becoming the first person convicted of streaming fraud, MIDiA explained how AI could soon enable a golden age of audio piracy . Coupled with the fact that book publishers have been reporting that AI-generated books are being published under their names or oddly...| MIDiA Research
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.| MIDiA Research
During its Q2 FY2025 earnings call, Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters announced plans to increase investment into its gaming division (via GameSpot ). At first glance, this move may seem surprising, given the company’s rocky experience in the gaming space so far. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Over the past few weeks, a growing list of indie bands have decided to leave Spotify, the most prominent being Deerhoof and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard (a partial list has been compiled by Fader ). Source| MIDiA Research Blog
In today’s hyper-connected digital landscape, fandom is often misunderstood as a static identity, a label adopted after buying a concert ticket or streaming an album. This passive view misses the essence of what makes fandom so compelling. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Fandom is evolving into a more powerful force within entertainment. The value gap between what entertainment IP holders produce and what fans can create is narrowing fast. This has implications for audience engagement. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Two competing opinions landed in my inbox recently, both signalling a shift in late-night entertainment, but from entirely different perspectives. The first, from RainNews , argued that podcasts were replacing traditional late-night TV. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Drake’s new single ‘Which One’, featuring Central Cee dropped on July 25, 2025 –not abnormal. Less normal: he launched it with no warning halfway through a 41-minute episode of Iceman , a YouTube series he is streaming in advance of his album of the same name. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Over the past decade, digital sales have become the primary way gamers purchase video games. With this shift comes a series of growing pains that often puts gamers at odds with publishers. One particularly contentious issue is digital ownership and consumer rights; topics gaining renewed attention t... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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...| MIDiA Research
This report presents MIDiA consumer entertainment data across media, music, audio, and games. Key data and insights: Time spent weekly active users (by format platform)for streaming music, podcasts, social &nbs...| MIDiA Research
This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music behaviours of French consumers. Key data and insights in this report: Monthly music behaviours of French consumers Listening habits French consumers, monthly, weekly, and &n...| MIDiA Research
Brazil’s large, youthful population has fully embraced streaming. It is now the country’s top consumption format and the source of of its recorded music revenue. This is helping Brazilians’ strong connection to music reach across borders, with the Brazilian funk genre and artists like Anitta becoming global sensations.| MIDiA Research
After a buoyant 2023, recorded music revenue growth slowed again in 2024, the fourth year of alternating growth rates. It was a year of varied fortunes across both formats and labels, but perhaps most crucially of all, a growing divergence between label streaming growth and DSP growth.| MIDiA Research
The video creator software market is evolving fast. AI tools are carving out new workflows, and the democratisation of video creation is increasing demand from social video creators and professional videographers. Editing software and plugins remain key to monetisation, but challenges are emerging from subscription-adverse creators and users brough...| MIDiA Research
AI tools pose a risk to the hardware funnel by becoming the go-to toolkit for beginners and a substitute for recorded footage. With AI providing solutions at every stage of the video creator workflow, hardware must fight to justify its need. Especially because AI makes it easier for all creators to produce professional-grade content.| MIDiA Research
Historically, YouTubers and TikTok influencers have received the lion’s share of mainstream attention as a creator class – but audio creators are increasingly active on the same digital platforms and operating within the same formats. As a result, the audio creator has become a jack of all trades, moving between copyediting, audio editing, and ...| MIDiA Research
AI chatbots are intersecting our entertainment lives as the tech majors transform consumer devices into digital companions. Such moves are building upon the foundations laid by smart speakers and OpenAI’s ChatGPT to elevate chatbot engagement towards the mainstream.| MIDiA Research
This report presents the key figures, trends, and drivers of MIDiA’s music forecast model. The figures presented in this report are both retail and label trade values, and they are in billions of US dollars – unless otherwise stated. An Excel file posted alongside this report provides complete country-level data, including DSP market shares and...| MIDiA Research
When systems fail, there are two options: try to fix what is broken, or build something new. In our ’s landmark ‘bifurcation theory’ report , MIDiA pinpointed a new class of music creators taking the latter path. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
AI is now intertwined with all the internet has to offer – be it generated memes, AI music, or (somewhat) helpful chatbots. Seemingly, no proposition can go free of generative embellishment. Yet as Gen AI proliferates, something is becoming increasingly clear: content written with AI assistance of... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
We are living through a peculiar moment in media evolution, where the traditional categories used to organising content – TV, radio, podcast, film – are collapsing under their own weight. Not because they are obsolete, but because they do not reflect how audiences are consuming media. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
How are social platforms coping as the AI floodgates open? For some time now, MIDiA has been advocating for social platforms to provide some protections to human creators from the increase in AI content. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
“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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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 . Source| MIDiA Research Blog
London, 10 July 2025 – The digital era has transformed every part of the music industry, but perhaps no role has been more quietly upended than that of the songwriter. Unlike recording artists, songwriters have long lacked the fallback revenue streams of touring or merchandise, while their share o... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
‘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 ... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Governments often struggle to keep pace with technological change. This can be frustrating for young but growing industries that need ministerial support to unlock the next stages of their economic potential. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
1st July 2025, London - The global music industry is navigating a crucial period of recalibration, as outlined in MIDiA Research’s recently published report “Global Music Forecasts 2025-2032.” This comprehensive report is an in-depth analysis of a market experiencing changing growth patterns, ...| MIDiA Research
Brands and creative agencies can claim a larger slice of the creative economy as adoption of virtual influencer content accelerates. Cheaper to run, with higher productivity rates and more monetisation options, virtual influencers provide an opportunity for brands to secure a greater return on their marketing investment.| MIDiA Research
As niche officially becomes mainstream, the entertainment industry faces a delicate balance. Audiences are losing interest in broad, mainstream propositions, but hyper-personalised niches are inherently difficult to scale and monetise while retaining what made them special to fans in the first place.| MIDiA Research
1. Introduction| www.midiaresearch.com
The 2024 edition of MIDiA’s global music forecast captures a market at a crossroads. With limited streaming user growth remaining in the West, revenue growth will be fuelled by price rises and ARPU increases, as well as expansion in emerging markets, albeit at lower ARPU.| MIDiA Research
MIDiA has just released its annual recorded music market shares report. Clients can access the full report and the accompanying massive (!) data set here . For the rest of you, here are some highlights from the report.| MIDiA Research
The music business is bifurcating, with streaming emerging as the place for mainstream music and lean-back consumption, and social as the spiritual home of fandom and the creator economy. In this report we will explore how today’s music business challenges are setting in motion a new, bifurcated business.| MIDiA Research
The music industry is approaching a pivot point. On the one hand, things look positive: we have UMG’s Streaming 2.0 , artist centric licensing, the impending launch of supremium and expanded rights revenue hitting $4.| MIDiA Research
Human nature and human nosiness seem to go hand in hand. There is something undeniably compelling about getting a view into someone else’s world. Historically, this would be in the form of a coy walk past a living-room window’s undrawn curtains in the street. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
We are pleased to announce the release of MIDiA’s annual music forecasts report. This is always a labour of love and takes a bit longer than some other entities’ forecasts as our approach is more Etsy than Amazon, with every single line of data (and there are thousands of them) being hand crafte... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Advertising is a critical component of the entertainment industries. It supports free tiers of video streaming, forms the backbone of social platform revenues, and contributes significantly to the music industry through sync, licensing, and ad-supported streaming. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Sign up here for MIDiA’s Masterclass webinar on catalogue investment, this Thursday June 26, 2025, with Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano. In the second quarter of 2025, a range of catalogue acquisition deals have broken the typical mould: Sony acquired Hipgnosis Songs Group from Recognition Musi... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Meta has announced that it will be rolling out ads in WhatsApp’s ‘updates’ tab. This marks a move to monetise what has, up until now, been a platform with not so impressive revenue to report. A major issue for WhatsApp is that, as a direct messaging platform, it has been very difficult to mone... Source| MIDiA Research Blog
At MIDiA, we have started critically reassessing the use of the term‘ Global South’ , a phrase entrenched in industry and geopolitical discourse but increasingly unfit for purpose in today’s complex entertainment landscape.| MIDiA Research
In English-speaking markets (and much of Europe), entertainment consumption is split across a large number of digital platforms, segmented largely by content format, rights access, and legacy uptake. It is also fragmented across devices: smart TVs, smartphones, laptops, and consoles all play big rol...| MIDiA Research
The AI race is a tense one. Billions of dollars have been poured into the likes of OpenAI. Meanwhile, the US and UK governments, among others, have pledged to invest heavily in AI development, suggesting that they feel it is of critical importance to “win” the new space race.| MIDiA Research
AI is transforming culture, entertainment, business, and society at a rate unprecedented in the digital era. Unlike previous tech, AI is evolving at the speed of computing, not the human brain. Delivering as quickly as it promises, AI is breaking the mould.| MIDiA Research
The National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) annual meeting is known for making headlines. At last year’s event, CEO David Israelite used his state-of-the-union speech to announce a formal complaint against Spotify’s audiobook bundling, lodged with the Federal Trade Commission. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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 Worldwide ). Source| MIDiA Research Blog
It is that time of the year again: the annual MIDiA Music Creator Survey is here. Every year, we field this survey to take the pulse of music creators globally, diving into topics such as career aspirations, services and tools used, challenges and hurdles faced, and much more. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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 merely a blip? Within this context, success stories pepper the lower levels. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
Recall the opening scene of Mad Max: Fury Road: a brutal desert, where survival hinges on speed, strategy, and access to precious resources. Water and gasoline are everything in this dystopia, and there is never enough to go around. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
AI is transforming culture, entertainment, business, and society at a pace unprecedented in the digital era. Unlike previous tech, AI is evolving at the speed of computing, not the speed of the human brain.| MIDiA Research
In an unusual twist, on May 28, 2025, xAI agreed to pay Telegram $300 million in cash to be integrated into the messaging platform (per Reuters ). It is not every day you see a feature paying its platform to be combined into its existing service, but, Elon Musk is not often one for the traditional playbook. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
The 2025 Podcast Show revealed an industry in a stage of transformative growth. From the series of excellent talks, several key trends emerged, from legacy media, audio platforms, and creators adapting to new consumption patterns. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
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.| MIDiA Research
Still recovering from post-pandemic aftershocks, the music creator economy now faces unprecedented disruption from generative AI. More people are creating than ever before (both as creators and consumers) and sounds, services, and software revenue is growing well (the latter boosted by generative AI).| MIDiA Research
The streaming era upended the already-fraught business of being a songwriter, pushing songwriters to secure new revenue streams and better deal terms. While the recorded music industry has responded to similar shifts with a flourishing artist services market, the same is not true for songwriters.| MIDiA Research
The music merchandise market has transformed, with significantly more artists selling merch and more product variety than ever before. The traditional line between “hard” and “soft” merch is blurring as new generations buy vinyl as a collectible keepsake, rather than a consumption format.| MIDiA Research
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. Source| MIDiA Research Blog
This music creator tools forecasts report acts as a companion piece to MIDiA’s report “State of music creator economy: AI’s growing reach ” . This report provides analysis, market sizing, and forecasts for users and revenues for music creator tools revenues across the following categories: and services DAWs Music software ...| MIDiA Research
Consumer music behaviours are both stabilising and showing signs of coming change. Change that could be challenging for all music business stakeholders, especially with regards to fandom monetisation. This report presents data-focused visuals and impactful analysis of trends and anomalies that will inform your understanding of what is happening to ...| MIDiA Research
The biggest apps are in the process of disruption. TikTok’s uncertain future and Meta’s apps relaxing content restrictions and fact checking will constitute greater challenges for creators, advertisers, and audiences looking to use and benefit from these platforms.| MIDiA Research
The music catalogue acquisition market bounced back from a slightly cooled 2023 with a new fever in 2024. What is being bought is changing, however, as investors look to diversify their portfolios and uncover new growth pockets in an increasingly crowded market.| MIDiA Research
Engaging younger audiences remains the entertainment industry’s biggest challenge. However, Japanese anime is achieving this by growing penetration with each new generation of consumers. Key to this success is its ability to dovetail with the fragmented nature of modern entertainment consumption to reach consumers in their scenes.| MIDiA Research
This report presents MIDiA consumer entertainment data across media, music, audio, and games. Data covered includes streaming music, podcasts, social media, games consoles, and much more. All data is from our 2024 survey, fielded in US, Canada, Brazil,...| MIDiA Research
The conversation around AI narration has awakened a historic tension, one that emerges at the dawn of every technological epoch. The tension is not just about the capabilities of AI itself, but the gnawing uncertainty of what it means for humans.| MIDiA Research
Key takeaways from this blog: Generative AI is reshaping creative workflows, with MIDiA’s research highlighting how AI-only video production is already achievable The next creative divide will be defined by prompting skill level: those who can expertly translate vision into AI prompts will be ahea...| MIDiA Research
Generative AI is improving, and its use is increasing. AI tools have rapidly accelerated , and, as a result, AI is now widely used to generate lesson plans, find recipe measurements, and draft lists of potential client companies.| MIDiA Research
Key takeaways from this blog: Audiobooks are evolving into something far more than just a listening experience With its integration into the wellness sphere and innovations in immersive audio, the medium is carving out new paths MIDiA examines the evolution of audiobooks and the possibilities ahead ...| MIDiA Research
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 ...| MIDiA Research
Key takeaways from this blog: Creators want more than just productivity. Over half of video creators want tools that help them improve their skills, not just speed up production (according to MIDiA's Video Creator Tools Survey Q2 2024) AI assistants should support and engage creators.| MIDiA Research
Key takeaways from this blog: Podcasts now rival traditional media in influence, especially around current events, thanks to their strong personalities, flexibility, and direct audience engagement The success of top podcasts is driven by hosts, not media networks — charisma, connection, and commen...| MIDiA Research
Record label streaming revenue growth slowed to 6% in 2024 but there was no such slowdown in subscriber growth. In our just published ‘ Music subscriber market shares Q4 2024 ’ report, we reveal that the 85 million net* new subscribers added in 2024 was only two million less than in 2023, result...| MIDiA Research
Key insights from this blog: Online radio has a growing audience, with further opportunity to capitalise on what is missing from music streaming We explore why online radio is gaining popularity – covering the elements of loyalty, dynamism, and humanity – and explain how this connects to MIDiA's...| MIDiA Research
Streaming market metrics are bifurcating. Label streaming revenues were up in 2024, indicating a much anticipated slow down in revenue growth. Yet, at the same time, music subscriber growth was nearly double that of label streaming revenues for 2024. As is so often the case, there are many factors at play.| MIDiA Research
Fandom is becoming the music industry’s golden goose, with labels focusing on building and monetising superfan bases for their top artists. However, superfan behaviours are changing in response to oversaturation and hyper-fragmentation. What once worked for measuring and monetising fandom will not work the same in the future.| MIDiA Research
years since the launch of YouTube, the creator economy is not new – but it lacks a single clear definition. Different interest groups who interact with it all have their perspectives, but this lack of...| MIDiA Research
Since its inception, Spotify has been, and continues to be, the streaming music market’s lightning rod. This is due to its continued ability to maintain leading market share and the fact it is the only...| MIDiA Research
It has been a rollercoaster of a news year for TikTok since April, when President Biden signed a law that would ban the platform unless it found new owners. The January 19th deadline is approaching quickly,...| MIDiA Research
