MIDiA Reports

MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031
The market is mature, so double-digit growth is a fantasy

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Perry Gresham, Mark Qi and Rhys Elliott

January 2025

US

Global

gaming

Recent years have been tough for the games market. Like many industries, gaming overextended itself following the black swan event that was the COVID-19 pandemic. During those difficult times, everybody...

MIDiA Research 2025–2031 music creator tools forecasts
AI comes to town

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Mark Mulligan

January 2025

subscribers

AI

Business Strategy

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...

Creators and the creator economy
Defining the undefinable

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Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert and Ben Woods

January 2025

Creators

Cultural trends

Creator Economy

20 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...

Splice x MIDiA Sounds of 2025

Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano, Samuel Griffin, Mark Qi and Olivia Jones

January 2025

Free Report

Splice

Audience Insight

Foreword Splice is an engine powering producers across the world. With one ofthe largest, most sonically-diverse catalogues of sounds and samples, itprovides the music that makes the music for some of...

State of the music creator economy
AI’s growing reach

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Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

January 2025

Innovation

Creators

revenue

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)...

Before and after podcasts
Mapping the podcast listener journey

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Rutger Rosenborg

January 2025

US

UK

France

The global importance of video for podcasting extends into the unique market dynamics of the US, UK, France, Mexico, and Japan. Not only does this justify Spotify’s strategic video push, but it also...

Creators versus creation
Tackling headwinds and bifurcation

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Ben Woods

December 2024

Creators

Music creators

Business Strategy

Headwinds are threatening the creator economy’s potential. Audience growth, social platform monetisation, and content saturation are creating friction that is leaving creators frustrated. Now, the red...

What gamers really think about gen AI in games
Apathy, not outrage

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Rhys Elliott

December 2024

Audience Insight

Game development budgets have spiralled out of control, leading game executives to cut costs and streamline their game development processes. It is no secret that generative AI (gen AI) is the tech industry’s...

Social platform user behaviour
Q3 2024

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Hanna Kahlert

December 2024

Marketing Strategy

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,...

Q3 2024 music metrics
Maturation effect

Mark Mulligan

December 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music consumer behaviours and company financials for Q3 2024.Consumer data covered includes, streaming app usage, music behaviour and streaming activities....

MIDiA's 2025 predictions webinar slides
It's social's stage now

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Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

December 2024

Free Report

Spotify

YouTube

Twitch

MIDiA's expert analysts dive into our 2025 predictions for the music, social, video, audio, and games industries – and explain why we believe "it's social's stage now".

MIDiA’s 2025 predictions
It’s social’s stage now

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Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

December 2024

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

The creator economy reshaped entertainment in the first half of the 2020s and social wasthe big winner, now positioned at the centre of the entertainment economy. In 2025 wewill see the second-order effects...

The future of creator software
Maximising AI’s engagement opportunity

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Ben Woods

November 2024

Product Strategy

Artificial intelligence is revolutionising creator software to make it easier for those with little or no skill to produce high-quality content. These innovations are proving highly disruptive to existing...

The case for in-game video platforms
Closing the direct-to-consumer gap

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Rhys Elliott

November 2024

Product Strategy

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms like Twitch and YouTube as a springboard to promote their games. Meanwhile, Twitch and YouTube get advertising and creator-driven revenues in...

Global South rising
Streaming audiences in China, Turkey, and South Africa

Tatiana Cirisano

November 2024

Spotify

YouTube

Deezer

It is increasingly clear that the future of the global music streaming business relies heavily on the Global South markets, which include Latin America, Asia Pacific, and the Rest of World. Most subscription...

Visionary audio
Unlocking the power of video in podcasting

Rutger Rosenborg

November 2024

brand partnerships

spotify podcasts

podcast creators

YouTube may be the only viable platform for long-form video podcasts, but that does not mean audio-first podcast platforms should abandon video. Instead, podcast platforms should leverage video both as...

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global social forecasts
New frontiers and strong growth ahead

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Hanna Kahlert and Mark Qi

November 2024

YouTube

Facebook

Instagram

More than ever, social platforms are the de facto way that consumers interact not only with entertainment but with the internet itself. As internet access expands in emerging markets and social platforms...

State of the independent music economy
Fragmentation and consolidation

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Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

October 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents the results of MIDiA’s annual independent label and distributor survey, as well as the most comprehensive market sizing of the non-major label sector ever conducted. Built on revenue...

The future of creator hardware
AI’s new creative lane

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Ben Woods

October 2024

Twitch

Sony

Microsoft

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,...

Music merchandise demand
Who, what, and where

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Tatiana Cirisano

October 2024

Consumer behaviour

cds

Spotify

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...