Hanna Kahlert

Hanna is one of our expert analysts, helping drive MIDiA’s research into the future of digital entertainment. Her key areas of interest are cross-entertainment audience behaviour, the creator economy, and social platforms.

The life of a cultural narrative: Where are 2025’s iconic moments?

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Hanna Kahlert

26 Aug 2025

Cultural trends

Eras are defined by their moments. The 2000’s saw low-rise jeans, a neon palette, and pop star drama. The 2010’s had barn weddings and ‘Gangnam Style’. With time comes the benefit of hindsight, and clarity on what was big versus what faded quickly.

min read

Social as the home of online scenes
Going beyond viral moments

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Hanna Kahlert

August 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...

Instagram Maps: Feature or future?

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Hanna Kahlert

14 Aug 2025

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...

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Why Drake’s ‘Which One’ single is not a TikTok-first track

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Hanna Kahlert

29 Jul 2025

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.

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Why the AI boom will boost non-Western markets

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Hanna Kahlert

22 Jul 2025

Cultural trends

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...

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Building fandom is about the journey, not the destination

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Hanna Kahlert

15 Jul 2025

“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.

min read

Budweiser’s royalty loophole ad: How AI and social have changed the value of creators

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Hanna Kahlert

24 Jun 2025

Cultural trends

generative AI music

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.

min read

Ads in WhatsApp Stories: is this the next ad frontier in social?

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Hanna Kahlert

20 Jun 2025

Business Strategy

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...

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Live isn’t dead, it just needs a WhatsApp group: why gatekeeping is due for a comeback

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Hanna Kahlert

12 Jun 2025

Cultural trends

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 mer...

min read

India market focus
A fandom and AI-forward online population

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Hanna Kahlert

June 2025

YouTube

Facebook

Fandom

Online Indian consumers are expected to be early movers. They are high entertainment consumers, AI enthusiasts, and high spenders – especially on fandom. This report explores a population that is an early adopter, format-agnostic, mobile-first audience, with huge growth potential.

Grok meets Telegram: Why is AI being shoehorned into messaging platforms?

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Hanna Kahlert

5 Jun 2025

Product Strategy

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 p...

min read

AI futures
Culture wars

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Ben Woods, Tatiana Cirisano, Hanna Kahlert, Mark Mulligan and Kriss Thakrar

May 2025

Apple

Spotify

Deezer

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.

Culture always starts as grassroots: The rise of bardcore raves

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Hanna Kahlert

22 May 2025

Cultural trends

The entertainment industry is facing a cultural crisis. Demands for more , faster to feed the algorithms are undermining longevity and impact. Songs fade quickly, while films fail to fill cinemas. If much of current mainstream culture is nostalgia and clickbait, what will be the legacy that defines ...

min read

Social audiences are fragmenting
Social platform user profile

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Hanna Kahlert

May 2025

YouTube

YouTube

Facebook

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.

The paradox of scale and success: What music can learn from gin distilleries

Cover image for The paradox of scale and success: What music can learn from gin distilleries

Hanna Kahlert

14 May 2025

Business Strategy

The digital world is becoming less reliable. Platforms are flooded with AI content ranging from banal, to amusing, to concerningly incorrect . Advertising crowds the feed alongside creators desperately trying to sell something: themselves, a lifestyle, products, businesses.

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What “Make Hollywood Great Again” really means for entertainment

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Hanna Kahlert

8 May 2025

Business Strategy

On Sunday, May 4th, President Trump announced his intent to put a “100 per cent Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands”. The administration has stated it is “exploring all options” and that no final decisions have been made.

min read

There is no Pirates of the Caribbean 6: How long is the internet going to work?

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Hanna Kahlert

29 Apr 2025

Cultural trends

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.

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What does it mean for OpenAI to go social?

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Hanna Kahlert

24 Apr 2025

Business Strategy

Key takeaways from this blog: Tech giants are doubling down on AI, with social seemingly the next frontier for innovation OpenAI may be flipping the script: not adding AI to a social platform, but building social around AI This could change how we create and share online – but potentially conflict...

min read

The future of (US) TikTok
Implications for the social marketplace

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Hanna Kahlert

April 2025

Social

Business Strategy

TikTok

TikTok has played a significant role in digital culture over the last five years, driven largely by pandemic-era adoption and knock-on effects. From marketing strategies to viral trends, it has become inextricable from Gen Z culture. Yet it now faces risk of disruption in the US and possibly beyond as a result.

What happens to entertainment in a gamified US economy?

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Hanna Kahlert

15 Apr 2025

Cultural trends

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 ...

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