MIDiA’s analysts answer questions on their 2025 predictions

We are delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response and discussions sparked during our 2025 predictions webinar.

We are grateful for all the engaging questions you asked during the session. Though we were unable to get through all of the excellent questions in the one-hour window, we certainly have not forgotten them. We are happy to share our analysts’ thoughts on your 2025 questions across the music industry, creator economy, social, and entertainment, and fandom.

For those of you who missed the webinar, you can watch the recording and download the slides for free here.

If you would like to get a hold of our full 2025 predictions report, please click here.

The MIDiA Research team

Music industry

1. Will DSPs focus their social strategies in line with traditional platforms that are artist-triggered versus Discord that is about community even if the artist is not present?

Tatiana Cirisano: So far, the major DSPs have focused on “artist-triggered” features, such as Spotify Clips. I would expect this to continue because most DSPs do not have the social functionality that would enable fan-to-fan interaction. For example, fans are unable to post their own Spotify Clips or even respond to those posted by artists. There are a handful of reasons why DSPs may be hesitant to go full-social. For one, with social features comes a need for content moderation. Perhaps some DSPs also fear “influencers” becoming more, well, influential than DSP-owned playlists. However, hesitant DSPs might want to reconsider. Artists need more ways to build fandom without needing to be present all the time, and fans want to post and create. Today’s fan communities are also actively seeking more closed-off, dedicated spaces to interact away from the toxicity that can come from general social app feeds. Activating those communities in the same spaces where the music lives makes sense.

2. Which superfan app do we think will take the #1 spot? Will it be the first mover? The one with the best user interface? One backed by many large artists?

Olivia Jones: Two major factors will help determine what is the leading superfan app – the number of well-known artists and how unique the app’s offerings are. Today’s superfans are beginning to experience platform fatigue, so providing users with access to multiple artists in one place is ideal. HYBE’s platform, Weverse, functions as this kind of platform for K-pop fans, but we have yet to see a similar example in Western music fandom. Furthermore, content is so ubiquitous today that many fans do not see value in downloading a superfan app that only promises extra content. However, an app that provides more tailored opportunities for early access to merchandise, music, or tickets would prove to be more valuable.

Creator economy

1. Will the result of all this rapid tech-fueled content and attention flood be that tech products will emerge to help humans process and filter all the information overload? Or will we see humans start to drop out at scale and touch grass all the time?

Ben Woods: The flood of AI content onto social platforms will be a big test of the algorithms. To date, the algorithms have been successful at pairing consumers wanting to indulge in their niche passions with creators building communities around such topics. However, AI tools are emerging that will optimise how content is discovered. These tools are focused on remixing videos based on audience data: a video is published, the audience data is analysed, and the content is tweaked and republished to improve discovery and engagement. This automated process will result in multiple versions of one video being created and published to optimise discovery. The question is whether the best content will still rise to the top, or whether this will enable weaker-content to punch above its weight. If weaker-quality content starts to win the discovery battle over higher-quality content, then it could negatively impact engagement. However, do not expect audiences to abandon platforms entirely. They are more likely to just spend time with creators they know and trust rather than new ones. Take a look at TikTok’s Symphony Creative AI Suite for a window into how AI tools are evolving. 

2. Do platforms ever win by letting creators / artists own fan relationships?

Hanna Kahlert / Tatiana Cirisano / Rhys Elliott / Ben Woods: Creators will always need some kind of middleman to reach their audiences – be it an email server, a WhatsApp channel, or a Patreon. Platforms like Spotify and TikTok benefit more from audiences being platform loyal, rather than being loyal to a creator who may try to pull them into more directly monetisable spaces. Direct channels like WhatsApp or Discord, on the other hand, rely on that direct interaction, and thus would benefit. Fan-first platforms like Bandcamp and SoundCloud can offer a win-win for direct-to-fan strategies – but are niche to superfan audiences, and are unlikely to grow beyond this niche.

3. It is challenging to balance the time artists spend creating their art versus promoting their art online and communicating with fans via social. Do you think this second piece (promoting their art via social and communicating with fans) is where AI can be utilised more?

Ben Woods: Social platforms are already experimenting with how AI can make fan / audience engagement more manageable for creators. In October 2024, YouTube announced that it was testing AI-powered comment reply suggestions. Meanwhile, Bytedance is pushing this to the extreme via TikTok’s Chinese sister platform Douyin. Through Bytedance’s V project, creators will be able to outsource audience engagement to fully automated AI versions of themselves. However, using AI for audience engagement risks alienation if the rules of engagement are not clear. There are examples of audiences embracing virtual influencers that do not pretend to be human beings. And there are also examples of audiences pushing back against popular creators who have tried to replace themselves with AI avatars. The takeaway from these early test cases is that audiences will push back if they feel like they are being duped or offered a substandard experience.  

Social

1. If TikTok were to falter, what specific platforms look ripe to lead in social video?

Hanna Kahlert: Without TikTok, its two main competitors – Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts – are set to gain that time. The overlap between users is already high (e.g., TikTok users who also use Shorts), which will smooth any adoption friction. However, this high degree of overlap also indicates that despite their similar features, the apps do have different offerings for their users, which can be primarily chalked up to 1) The social network (who they engage with in the comments, the creators they follow) and 2) The algorithm (what videos they are shown and how often). Reels does not time stamp its videos, and is notorious for showing them weeks after they have been posted, which is good for helping a video perform well for longer. Shorts caters to more niche scenes, which is great for fan building. TikTok, however, is best known for its ability to break trends overnight – it is the “you saw it first here” place to be, and this “cool factor” is not present on the other apps. So, there is space for a competitor that can do this.

2. Regarding “cultural nichification”: is there something signalling interest from people for algorithms which can break the "echo chamber" AKA recommending content outside the usual comfort zone?

Hanna Kahlert: The signals that algorithms pick up on are constantly changing, to prevent excessive gamification. If everyone knows the secret to viral success, there is no more viral success. The goalposts have to keep moving. That said, the best way to cut through to new audiences is collaborations with other creators, potentially in different scenes, and association with a broader scene, which can mean many different styles of content and creators that all fit the same cultural ‘niche’ and therefore will be found by audience word-of-mouth and which the algorithm will pick up on. For example, esports, booktok, momtok.

3. How do you see the future of social regarding trust in sources / fake news etc. Will there be a relevant number of users turning their backs on social and leaving?

Hanna Kahlert: It is unlikely that users will leave social media altogether. However, they will likely continue the trend of looking for authenticity, community, and reliability – which will now be best placed in smaller, online ‘gated’ communities. Examples are closed WhatsApp channels, Facebook Groups, Discord Channels; places where users are familiar with the entire community and understand they share common interests. Here, there is a social expectation of trust in the information being shared, rather than an overwhelming ‘everything at once’ approach from strangers. 

Entertainment and fandom

1. Where do you see the future of gaming going with AI being so heavily involved now?

Rhys Elliott: The jury is still out on how gen AI will impact the future of games. Many tech trends – like blockchain and the metaverse –  promised to change the games and tech industries, but they turned out to be overambitious. After all, it is the players who will dictate where the market goes. We recently surveyed gamers to ask if gen AI would impact their gaming purchases. Most did not care, as long as the game is good. However, that could change in the future if use cases emerge. Gen AI has already become a solid part of game dev processes, though. AI tools are already helping developers speed up creative processes such as ideation, procedurally generated environments, quests, and character dialogue. Learn more about the technology and its potential impact on games in this blog.

2. Do you think the traditional way of playing with a remote will go away and instead be replaced with VR headsets as AI continues to rise?

Rhys Elliott: Controllers, keyboards and mice, and touchscreens will not be replaced by gesture-based controls unless technology markedly improves. With consumers, old habits die hard.  Furthermore, VR gaming – which is typically played with controllers – has a chicken-and-egg problem. There are not enough active VR players for developers to justify developing games (especially big budget), and there are not enough killer VR apps to justify a healthy VR player base. Headsets sell well around the holiday period, but they mostly end up gathering dust. Even Apple and PlayStation have not succeeded in their VR ventures so far. VR gaming will likely remain niche – a rung on the ladder towards consumer-grade AR.

3. Any thoughts on what we will see in terms of the monetisation of superfans?

Tatiana Cirisano: A deluxe music streaming tier for superfans feels inevitable. Look out for a MIDiA Research report coming in Q1 this year, which will pinpoint the optimal price point and revenue opportunity of this offering. We will also surely see the continued diversification of music merchandise options. While there is room for the music merch sector to grow, MIDiA forecasts that this growth will slow significantly by 2030 as the market matures. Perhaps the most exciting opportunity is figuring out a way to better monetise fandom expression through creation. Today’s superfans are not content to merely consume their favourite entertainment; they want to participate, whether by creating fan-made merchandise, DIY music videos, or remixing songs themselves. This activity currently drives only a small portion of music industry revenue, but it is still early days and we expect licensing models to evolve as the consumer-creation trend continues to unfold.

Rhys Elliott: Games already monetise superfans very well. As the market matures, we can expect increasingly sophisticated strategies leveraging tech, consumer psychology, and new cultural norms. Other entertainment verticals have and will take note. Meanwhile, gaming will continue to venture into other entertainment segments – location-based entertainment / theme parks, movie / TV adaptations, and merch to deepen fans’ connections with game franchises (and generate more revenues). As the games market continues to face growth challenges, it will turn to maximising ARPPU – especially among superfans. Superfans have already shown that they are willing to spend more to access premium games a week early, or spend big on in-game items to socialise and express their identity and fandom, so we expect to see publishers continuing to push the envelope to see where the line is. As game subscriptions continue to reach saturation, leave their growth phases, and enter their retention phases, publishers will increase prices to further monetise superfans. After all, these are the typical consumers of these subscriptions.