metaverse blog by MIDiA Research

Blog: metaverse

Read our latest daily deep-dives, hot takes, and exciting updates about the digital entertainment world. Check out your favourite analyst, or search by coverage – games, video, music, audio, media & marketing, or critical developments for all.

The future is interoperability: Why Threads could beat Twitter through the Fediverse

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

12 Jul 2023

While Elon Musk has been posturing public beef with Mark Zuckerberg (challenging him to a cage match, practicing with former MMA champions, public callouts on Twitter, requesting very personal measurements),...

Meta’s VR push should focus on the reality of the average consumer

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Blog post by Ben Woods

25 Apr 2023

virtual reality

The tipping point for virtual reality headsets remains elusive. Last year’s market hype around the metaverse suggested widespread adoption was within reach, only for Sony to reportedly dial down its...

Is the quality of games going down?

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Blog post by Perry Gresham

24 Feb 2023

trueachievements

“Things aren’t like they used to be”, a common refrain of anyone over the age of about 25, is a sentiment especially prevalent amongst gamers today. Is this blind nostalgia, or have games really...

The metaverse transition: Fortnite

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Blog post by Sam Griffin

19 Jan 2023

The metaverse transition: Fortnite Unreal Engine has been at the bleeding edge of digital development since its release, being fundamental to the development of household titles such as The Witcher ,...

The future lies beyond tech – a long(er) read

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

14 Dec 2022

As entertainment companies start planning their next big steps for the coming year, the success and failure of their strategic decisions will hinge on one big, and perhaps surprising, existential question...

Welcome to the Metaverse, where audience fragmentation reigns

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Blog post by Ben Woods

8 Dec 2022

In Ernest Cline’s dystopian novel Ready Player One , the metaverse unfurls as a virtual universe where choice over identity and experience are boundless. Such is the seamless experience of Cline’s...

iHeart brings podcasts to the metaverse – two niche formats looking for mainstream growth

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Blog post by Annie Langston

8 Sep 2022

iHeartMedia is (somewhat) of a sleeping giant in the audio battle. Although Spotify has taken centre stage in the audio market, iHeart has also transitioned its traditional radio offerings to digital audio...

Web 3.0 is a lane, not a highway

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

2 Sep 2022

Facebook was not the first web 2.0 company, but it was the one that took it mainstream to a global audience. Consumers’ digital lives would never be the same again. Whereas web 1.0 had enabled them to...

The trials and tribulations of virtual reality

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Blog post by Perry Gresham

26 Aug 2022

virtual reality

The new world of virtual reality (VR) has felt closer over the past ten years than ever, but is still just over the horizon. VR remains niche The main sticking point is adoption: currently just under one...

A counterculture music industry is emerging — welcome to the platform era

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

5 Jul 2022

What do TikTok’s distribution tool , Universal Music Group’s samples marketplace , and Snoop Dogg’s virtual marijuana have in common? On the surface, not much. But beneath, these news headlines are...

What Snapchat is getting right about the future (and why music should pay attention)

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Blog post by Tatiana Cirisano

6 May 2022

The music industry has spent the last few years studying the ins and outs of new platforms like TikTok and Twitch, with good reason. But the decade-old Snapchat increasingly appears to be social media’s...

Meta’s 2024 vision for AR glasses demonstrates the tech barrier to the metaverse

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

13 Apr 2022

Mark Zuckerberg is pushing for an ‘iPhone moment’ with his company’s Project Nazare, announcing AR glasses due to come in 2024, with hints at upgrades already in the works for 2026 and 2028. Not...

The metaverse hype will need to account for screen fatigue in an increasingly digital world

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

24 Mar 2022

Media and Marketing

Cultural Trends

The last two years have completely reoriented the dynamic between digital-first and in-person life. Digital entertainment has boomed under successive lockdowns, streaming has dominated consumption formats,...

Why Instagram will introduce NFTs to the gig economy in a big way

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

16 Mar 2022

In a conversation at SXSW, Mark Zuckerberg dropped that Instagram was going to be incorporating NFTs in the ‘near term’, pending some technological tweaks. While he was sparse on the detail, initial...

Time for a metaverse reality check

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

23 Feb 2022

Be it a realistic phenomenon or simply escapism, the digital discourse of 2022 has been populated by a number of shiny new terms that seem to have wooed the digital entertainment world. NFTs. Web 3.0....

Why the rise of a (former) political leader in the ranks of Meta spells regulatory compromise ahead

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

17 Feb 2022

This Wednesday, Nick Clegg – former MP and deputy Prime Minister of the UK – was promoted to President of Global Affairs at Meta, reporting directly to Mark Zuckerberg himself. According to Zuckerberg,...

Web 3.0 will be social-first

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

6 Dec 2021

Fame has now been replaced by one-hit overnight viral sensations, niche can now be of more strategic value than mainstream , and 16-19-year-old males are buying high fashion on Fortnite. Digital-first...

Why a VR metaverse is not the future of digital

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Blog post by Hanna Kahlert

5 Nov 2021

consumer insight

Amid a perfect storm of government scrutiny, potential anti-trust legislation, a whistle-blower, and social media disruption at the hands of burgeoning creator tools (like TikTok), Facebook – sorry,...

Facebook is about to disrupt itself out of existence…again

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Blog post by Mark Mulligan

29 Oct 2021

Facebook’s rebranding to Meta can be interpreted in many ways. It can be seen as: following Google / Alphabet’s lead in communicating a new chapter in its business; putting distance between the company...

Quick Take: The metaverse – expect goldrush by many, market domination by a few

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Blog post by Karol Severin

2 Aug 2021

Media and Marketing

After years of pioneering, tinkering and iteration, the concept of metaverses is moving closer to the mainstream in media and entertainment, in particular in games and social media, for example. In the...