Rutger Rosenborg | MIDiA Research

The podcast attention game: How algorithmic discovery may remake podcasting

29 Jan 2025

Open the YouTube app on your TV and the first category you will see below “Home” is “Podcasts”. According to the YouTube blog , viewers watched more than 400 million hours of podcasts every month...

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The podcast listener journey reveals a desire for human connection

Rutger Rosenborg

21 Jan 2025

Audience Insight

YouTube

TikTok

As the global podcast industry zeros in on video – especially social video – one overlooked discovery source has never really gone away: word of mouth. Despite a format that was born to be digital,...

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Before and after podcasts
Mapping the podcast listener journey

Cover image for Before and after podcasts

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...

The future is podcast scenes: What podcasters can learn from history podcast success

Rutger Rosenborg

15 Jan 2025

Cultural trends

Audio

Podcasts

Whether the result of eschatological anxiety caused by shifting global political alignments or the decline in humanities students in academic institutions, the business of history – especially in audio...

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Audiobooks enter their entertainment era

Rutger Rosenborg

8 Jan 2025

Spotify

audiobooks

Audible

It is easy to forget that the audiobook is not a new format. Novels, stories, and poems – much of what the modern world knows best through the written word – all have their origins in the oral traditions...

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Will audio have a seat at the creator economy table?

Rutger Rosenborg

18 Dec 2024

Amazon Music

Spotify

Podcasts

As 2024 comes to a close, it is worth reflecting on this year’s audio trends and where we expect things to head in 2025. Per our recent report, ‘ MIDiA’s 2025 predictions: It’s social’s stage...

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Audio is incidental: Why Spotify wants to become a creator ecosystem

Rutger Rosenborg

11 Dec 2024

Spotify

Spotify Wrapped

Podcasts

First there were artists, and then there were podcasters. Now, there are artists, creators, and authors on Spotify. As we covered at the end of November, Spotify has officially renamed its Spotify for...

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

Cover image for MIDiA's 2025 predictions webinar slides

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

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2025 predictions

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...

Bundle up: Audible audiobooks join the Amazon Music catalogue

Rutger Rosenborg

4 Dec 2024

Spotify

Amazon

Amazon Music

As audio platforms continue to expand into industries beyond audio, new fronts in the platform wars are emerging. With Spotify now competing with YouTube for video, podcast, and music supremacy, the company’s...

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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...

Is Spotify’s new monetisation model unlocking the power of video in podcasting?

Rutger Rosenborg

21 Nov 2024

Podcasts

video podcasts

Spotify

In October, MIDiA positioned Spotify’s video push as both a strategic move against YouTube and also as an evolution in the platform from music-first to audio-first to format agnostic. As we noted, the...

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What Acast's Q3 earnings signal about the global podcasting market

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Nov 2024

Audio

Acast

Podcasts

As one of the key players in podcast industry trends and podcast monetisation, what happens at Acast matters. The company’s financials provide insight into the global podcasting market, signalling to...

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Political podcast advertising: Will the ‘podcast election’ open the door for political ads in podcasts?

Rutger Rosenborg

6 Nov 2024

Audio

Marketing Strategy

podcast advertising

US presidential campaign ads are ubiquitous on television. Leading up to the election, every commercial break is an alternating flurry of messaging from each side. This year, however, we saw the first...

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AI and ad exchanges are helping podcast advertising grow — but who benefits most?

Rutger Rosenborg

30 Oct 2024

Spotify

Streaming

Podcasts

Podcast advertising has existed for more than a decade, but it is only just beginning to evolve. For much of its existence, it has resembled radio advertising more than other digital ad formats. A lack...

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Music in podcasts: Engaging superfans with a new album campaign strategy

Rutger Rosenborg

23 Oct 2024

Podcasts

Streaming

music podcasts

MIDiA has covered music’s big podcasting opportunity extensively. Per our June 2024 report, “ Defining podcast taste: The universal appeal of music, news, and comedy ”, music is one of the top podcast...

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Subscriptions are not the future of podcast monetisation

Rutger Rosenborg

15 Oct 2024

Podcasts

Spotify

YouTube

As markets fragment and niches grow, the need for meaningful, high-value exchanges between creators and their followers has never been more pressing. Yet, only a select few creators manage to transform...

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Socioeconomics of podcast listening
Engaging a higher value audience

Cover image for Socioeconomics of podcast listening

Rutger Rosenborg

October 2024

Creators

Subscriptions

Radio

Podcasts alone will struggle to monetise via subscriptions, leaving advertising as podcasts’ key source of revenue for the foreseeable future. However, podcasts do attract high-earning, high-spending...

Spotify recognised podcasting’s true monetisation potential with its acquisition of Megaphone

Rutger Rosenborg

October 2024

Audience Insight

Read the case study …

Beyond video podcasts: Spotify’s investment in video creators reveals its format agnosticism

Rutger Rosenborg

9 Oct 2024

Podcasts

video streaming

video podcasts

As more sustainable acquisitions come to podcasting, according to Podnews , Spotify is again looking to spend up to seven figures on creator investments. This time, video is the primary focus. Per Bloomberg...

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