Ben Woods | MIDiA Research

Creators versus creation
Tackling headwinds and bifurcation

Cover image for Creators versus creation

Ben Woods

December 2024

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...

Can AI creator tools live up to their hype in 2025?

Ben Woods

19 Dec 2024

Video

Product Strategy

Generative AI dominated discussions about the entertainment industry’s future in 2024. Whether it is music, video, games, audio, or social, both the immediate and long-term impacts of this technological...

min read

Netflix, Duolingo, and the art of engagement in a fiercely competitive attention economy

Ben Woods

13 Dec 2024

Netflix

Duolingo

Squid Game

Netflix is making sure everyone knows that Squid Game 2 is just around corner.The South Korean dystopian survival thriller has been subjected to a major global advertising splash ahead of the shows’...

min read

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".

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...

min read

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...

A message to the entertainment industry: nurture fandom or risk losing control of your IP

Ben Woods

29 Nov 2024

Creator Economy

Games

Video

What makes a fan in 2024? Is it how much they spend? How often they watch, listen or play? Is it how much they broadcast their fandom across social apps? Of course, the answer is all the above – and...

min read

Are consumers ready for TikTok’s AI acceleration?

Ben Woods

21 Nov 2024

Generative AI

TikTok

chat bots

The AI revolution sweeping the entertainment industry will rage on in 2025. In recent weeks, TikTok owner ByteDance has provided a deeper look into how AI will impact social platforms . Through a series...

min read

Are social platforms losing the next generation to Roblox and Fortnite?

Ben Woods

15 Nov 2024

Roblox

TikTok

YouTube

Unpacking social media strategy is now part and parcel of any election postmortem. From Elon Musk’s ownership of X to Donald Trump’s use of creators to target Gen Z men, understanding social’s role...

min read

How creator hardware companies can adapt to AI’s new creative lane

Ben Woods

7 Nov 2024

Video

Product Strategy

creator hardware

Companies building creator hardware are used to disruption. The last seismic shift came in the shape of the smartphone. Mass market point-and-shoot cameras were met with an existential crisis when lenses...

min read

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...

min read

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,...

Want to monetise generative AI tools effectively? Then make them safe for creators

Ben Woods

17 Oct 2024

Creator Economy

creators

Adobe

Adobe wrapped its creativity conference on Wednesday after a slew of product announcements for creators. Much like last year’s MAX event, artificial intelligence was front and centre. Many of the demos...

min read

AI’s creator economy revolution will accelerate if it can join the dots

Ben Woods

11 Oct 2024

Creator Economy

video creators

Music creators

While generative artificial intelligence (AI) is in its infancy, many people are optimistic about the technology’s potential. Organisations are deploying AI to improve productivity – and creators and...

min read

Unpacking AI’s threat to video creator hardware

Ben Woods

4 Oct 2024

Creator Economy

video creators

video creator tools

“AI video generators are just another tool in the box”: this statement has been circulating in recent months as AI adoption gathers pace. It is mostly used to soothe concerns regarding AI disruption...

min read

Video creator tools
Hardware user profile

Ben Woods

September 2024

Product Strategy

The democratisation of video creation has created an unprecedented opportunity for hardware tools companies. However, converting casual creators and beginners into high spenders is difficult given the...

Conference season shows video industry sharpening the focus on interactive content and AI tools

Ben Woods

26 Sep 2024

Creator Economy

video creators

creator tools

Cutting through the noise during conference season is always a challenge. But it becomes easier when comparing the mood and messaging from the previous year’s event. Sometimes a year is all it takes...

min read

The price of AI creator tools is on the rise, but will consumers pay for them?

Ben Woods

12 Sep 2024

AI

Creator Economy

video creators

AI has provided a significant engagement opportunity for creator companies. It has enabled creative platforms to market a raft of new features to consumers on top of what they already offered, whether...

min read

The battle has begun to own the creator through all-encompassing ecosystems

Ben Woods

4 Sep 2024

Creator Economy

creator tools

video creators

There has always been tension between the goals of creators, social platforms, and creator tools companies. As the creator economy has evolved, a push and pull has ensued between what creators’ feel...

min read