Hybrid futures: What 2022 has in store for digital entertainment

Every year, MIDiA puts out its predictions for what the next 12 months (and beyond) have in store for digital entertainment. Last year – the year of the immersive web, we had an 84% success rate, giving readers a head start on 2021 and guiding us in our analysis throughout the year.

2022 will be the year of the creator. It will be a year of consolidated trends as a result of the pandemic, of course, but it will also see inflection points of longer-term trends across fandom, creator tools, and underlying technology. From meta trends, to music, video, the creator economy, cultural trends, games, sports, and social media, you can find the full report available here.

Bringing the discussion to our followers, our January 12th webinar had the full panel of in-house MIDiA analysts present the biggest of these trends, as well as engage in insightful Q&A with viewers. The recording is available on our YouTube channel, and the slides are now also available on our site for free download here.

Our analysis is always rooted in not only a deep understanding of subject area, but an understanding of the linked nature of entertainment in the digital world. Music is not so removed from sports, nor video from games. While our webinar presents something akin to the highlight reel of specific coverage areas, and the report presents the comprehensive big picture, our analysts and consultants also broke off into groups to deep dive into some of the most interesting topics. This is the basis of our latest podcast season, the second episode of which is now live, where the MIDiA team were joined by guest appearances of some industry experts and innovators, including Cherie Hu of Water & Music and Josh Deal of Zebr.

You can listen to our founders and research heads, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, and Karol Severin, discussing their thoughts on the ‘new normal’ attention economy in episode one here.

In the second episode, Kriss Thakrar (music consultant and creator tools specialist) and Ashleigh Millar (MIDiA production manager and independent artist) are joined by our consulting director, Keith Jopling, and Mark Mulligan, lead music analyst – diving into the implications of the creator economy. You can listen to episode two here.  

Keep up to date with the weekly episodes (or catch up on previous seasons!) by following us on Acast, Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, or any other platform of choice.

Stay tuned for the exciting up-and-coming episodes:

• Episode three – out next week – features our first guest, Josh Deal of Zebr, talking with MIDiA’s own Tatiana Cirisano, Hanna Kahlert, and Ashleigh Millar, following up on episode two with more discussion on the creator economy and the role of what we dub ‘media fusion’.
• Episode four will explore the tricky necessity of bridging URL and IRL with Karol, Tatiana, Kriss, and Hanna.
• Episode five will feature guest Cherie Hu of Water & Music, speaking with MIDiA’s Tatiana, Hanna, and Srishti Das on the world beyond consumption – and the role fandom and ‘lean-out’ behaviours will play in the digital-entertainment world of the future.
• And finally, episode six will close off with Tim, Srishti, Kriss, and Hanna discussing the internationalisation (not quite globalisation) of content.

If you would like to carry on the conversation, get in touch with stephen@midiaresearch.com (music) or jonathan@midiaresearch.com (games / video) to discuss report access and our other research. Our analysts are all available to contact via Twitter for feedback and intellectual discussion, or you can reach out to info@midiaresearch.com for any other enquiries.