Reports: Business Strategy

Browse all of our reports, featuring our analysts' expert insights and analysis of audience segmentation, emerging trends and technologies, value chains, market shares, predictions and more – backed by our proprietary survey data and bespoke models & forecasts. Become a subscriber to get new ones every month, or just pick one to get started.

Cover image for Social 2025

Social 2025
Navigating platforms for fan power

Hanna Kahlert

19 Feb 2025

Creators Spotify Social

The biggest apps are in the process of disruption. TikTok’s uncertain future and Meta’s apps relaxing content restrictions and fact checking will constitute greater challenges for creators, advertisers, and audiences looking to use and benefit from these platforms.

Cover image for Audio’s entertainment value

Audio’s entertainment value
Examining audio listeners’ cross-entertainment lives

Rutger Rosenborg

13 Feb 2025

music industry Music streaming Content

Typically, the marketing team for a games company or TV show would not be thinking of audiobooks and podcast listeners as a key consumer segment to address. Yet, podcast and audiobook listeners are digitally sophisticated and spend more time and money than the consumer average on most forms of entertainment – including games, music, and video.

Cover image for MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031

MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031
The market is mature, so double-digit growth is a fantasy

Perry Gresham, Mark Qi and Rhys Elliott

30 Jan 2025

US Global Gaming

Interested in ' MIDiA Research global games forecasts 2025–2031' ? Access the free version here . Recent years have been tough for the games market. Like many industries, gaming overextended itself following the black swan event that was the COVID-19 pandemic.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2025–2031 music creator tools forecasts

MIDiA Research 2025–2031 music creator tools forecasts
AI comes to town

Mark Mulligan

28 Jan 2025

subscribers AI Business Strategy

This music creator tools forecasts report acts as a companion piece to MIDiA’s report “State of music creator economy: AI’s growing reach ” . This report provides analysis, market sizing, and forecasts for users and revenues for music creator tools revenues across the following categories: Software and services DAWs Music software (plug-ins...

Cover image for State of the music creator economy

State of the music creator economy
AI’s growing reach

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

21 Jan 2025

Innovation Creators revenue

Still recovering from post-pandemic aftershocks, the music creator economy now faces unprecedented disruption from generative AI. More people are creating than ever before (both as creators and consumers) and sounds, services, and software revenue is growing well (the latter boosted by generative AI).

Cover image for Creators versus creation

Creators versus creation
Tackling headwinds and bifurcation

Ben Woods

23 Dec 2024

Creators Music creators Business Strategy

Headwinds are threatening the creator economy’s potential. Audience growth, social platform monetisation, and content saturation are creating friction that is leaving creators frustrated. Now, the red lights are flashing on the dashboard: the average weekly time consumers spend creating and producing content has fallen for the first time since 20...

Cover image for Q3 2024 music metrics

Q3 2024 music metrics
Maturation effect

Mark Mulligan

18 Dec 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music consumer behaviours and company financials for Q3 2024.Consumer data covered includes, streaming app usage, music behaviour and streaming activities. Company financials covers record labels, music publishers, DSPs, and live music companies.

Cover image for MIDiA’s 2025 predictions

MIDiA’s 2025 predictions
It’s social’s stage now

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

5 Dec 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 begin to play out, set against the backdrop of attentionsaturation, content commodification, and increased focus on profit.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global social forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global social forecasts
New frontiers and strong growth ahead

Hanna Kahlert and Mark Qi

14 Nov 2024

YouTube Facebook Instagram

More than ever, social platforms are the de facto way that consumers interact not only with entertainment but with the internet itself. As internet access expands in emerging markets and social platforms continue to eat up digital entertainment consumption in developed ones, further growth is inevitable because the market has: The ability to grow u...

Cover image for State of the independent music economy

State of the independent music economy
Fragmentation and consolidation

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

31 Oct 2024

Business Strategy independent label market shares Independent label market shares by region

This report presents the results of MIDiA’s annual independent label and distributor survey, as well as the most comprehensive market sizing of the non-major label sector ever conducted. Built on revenue data for 5,500 companies, we present the definitive view of the independent music economy, with market sizing, regional trends, the companies to...

Cover image for Music merchandise demand

Music merchandise demand
Who, what, and where

Tatiana Cirisano

24 Oct 2024

Consumer behaviour cds Spotify

The music merchandise market has transformed, with significantly more artists selling merch and more product variety than ever before. The traditional line between “hard” and “soft” merch is blurring as new generations buy vinyl as a collectible keepsake, rather than a consumption format.

Cover image for Brazil music market

Brazil music market
Ready for prime time

Tatiana Cirisano and Leo Morel

19 Sep 2024

Business Strategy

Brazil’s large, youthful population has fully embraced streaming. It is now the country’s top consumption format and the source of 82% of its recorded music revenue. This is helping Brazilians’ strong connection to music reach across borders, with the Brazilian funk genre and artists like Anitta becoming global sensations.

Cover image for Q2 2024 music metrics

Q2 2024 music metrics
Bifurcation is here

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

19 Sep 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents MIDiA consumer data for key music consumer behaviours and company financials for Q2 2024. Consumer data covered includes, streaming app usage, music behaviour, and streaming activities. Company financials covers record labels, music publishers, DSPs, and live music companies.

Cover image for O mercado brasileiro de música

O mercado brasileiro de música
Rumo ao estrelato

Leo Morel and Tatiana Cirisano

19 Sep 2024

Business Strategy

Grande parte da população do Brasil adotou o streaming como formato de consumo musical. Atualmente, ele é o principal formato de consumo do país, correspondente a 82% de sua receita de música gravada. Isto, atrelada a forte conexão dos brasileiros com a música, está contribuindo para expandir as fronteiras da música local, com o funk brasi...

Cover image for Songwriters take the stage

Songwriters take the stage
A new playbook for a new era

Tatiana Cirisano and Fernanda Balzaretti

31 Jul 2024

Streaming Spotify music industry

The streaming era upended the already-fraught business of being a songwriter, pushing songwriters to secure new revenue streams and better deal terms. While the recorded music industry has responded to similar shifts with a flourishing artist services market, the same is not true for songwriters.

Cover image for MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music publishing forecasts

MIDiA Research 2024-2031 global music publishing forecasts
Managed change

Mark Mulligan

29 Jul 2024

Business Strategy

Thus far, the 2020s has been a good decade for the music publishing industry. Revenues have continued to grow, streaming royalty rates have improved – spurred by favourable royalty rates board rulings in the US – and institutional investment has flowed into publishing catalogues, even after rising interest rates.

Cover image for The state of the video creator economy

The state of the video creator economy
Creativity in a streamlined world

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Ben Woods

11 Jul 2024

Business Strategy Creator economy

The video creator tools industry is primed for turbo-charged growth as artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates the consumerisation of creation. While the opportunity is significant, a considered approach is needed to ensure AI elevates the creator economy’s success at turning passive consumers into monetisable creators.

Cover image for Bigger is not always better

Bigger is not always better
Premium gaming’s AA opportunity

Rhys Elliott

9 Jul 2024

Business Strategy

Following the post-pandemic slowdown of global games revenue growth, cost-cutting measures are now in full force. However, games continue to grow in scope and length with budgets often exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars, while growth and profitability are increasingly challenging to achieve.

Cover image for The state of music AI

The state of music AI
The consumer opportunity lies in modification, not generation

Tatiana Cirisano and Hanna Kahlert

27 Jun 2024

Consumer behaviour music industry Music publishing

MIDiA previously predicted that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) would accelerate music’s “Instagram moment”, where consumers could create and remix music as easily and often as they post photos and videos on social media. However, just because everyone can do these things does not mean everyone will want to.

Cover image for Video churn

Video churn
Streaming TV’s cord-cutting moment

Tim Mulligan

20 Jun 2024

Business Strategy

Global subscriber growth is maturing while incomes are becoming constrained and alternatives to streaming TV are proliferating. For the first time in the history of subscription video on demand (SVOD), churn is accelerating and becoming a systemic issue now that streaming is supplanting traditional pay TV.

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