Twitch Reports from MIDiA Research

The future of creator hardware
AI’s new creative lane

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Ben Woods

October 2024

Twitch

Sony

AI tools pose a risk to the hardware funnel by becoming the go-to toolkit for beginners and a substitute for recorded footage. With AI providing solutions at every stage of the video creator workflow,...

The single-player opportunity
Course correcting from a red to blue ocean

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Rhys Elliott

September 2024

YouTube

Netflix

xbox

The AAA PC and console games market is facing growth issues, money is more expensive, and developers are facing pressure to become leaner, more profitable, and take fewer risks. Many game makers, including...

Not all social entertainment behaviour is created equal
Audience deep dive

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Hanna Kahlert

July 2023

Spotify

YouTube

xbox

Social is an integral part of entertainment consumption This report presents key data and insights about the advanced overlaps between social behaviour (both on digital platforms and in real life) and...

Live sport 2.0
Capturing younger audiences with the creator economy

Ben Woods

June 2023

YouTube

Apple TV

Twitch

The funding model for live sports has created fissures between older viewers who can afford to pay a premium for live access and younger audiences who either cannot, or do not want to. While older generations...

Livestreaming strategy in a social-video world
Work with UGC, not against it

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Tatiana Cirisano

June 2023

live

Amazon Prime

gigs

Livestreamed concerts are establishing themselves as complementary experiences, rather than replacements for in-person gigs. A picture of the average livestreamer — older millennials who are entertainment...

Podcasts and gamers
How audio can propel the gaming universe

Annie Langston and Kazia Rothwell

May 2023

Spotify

YouTube

The rise of games-inspired content is taking entertainment by storm. This illustrates the power of not only games content itself, but the fandoms that keep it alive, revealing an audience for other entertainment...

Web 3.0 is here
Navigating the new culture of digital entertainment

Hanna Kahlert

May 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Netflix

AI has already hit entertainment at the industry level – and the impacts on audience culture will not be far behind. A variety of AI tools are now readily available on ‘fremium’ tiers at a consumer...

Profiling Steam users
A valuable gamer niche

Karol Severin

April 2023

YouTube

Amazon

Netflix

For two decades now, Steam has been one of the go-to digital game distributors, particularly for computer gamers and developers. Yet, its weekly active audience does not quite reflect a fully representative...

Bridging the creator gap
Monetising social video’s micro-communities

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Sam Griffin and Ben Woods

April 2023

Subscriptions

YouTube

Twitch

The pandemic-induced boom in content creation has saturated social video platforms at a time when creators are battling a downturn in digital advertising revenues. These dual pressures of less exposure...

Rebooting video fandom
Games as a video streaming genre

Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Perry Gresham, Sam Griffin and Ben Woods

March 2023

Apple

Apple TV

Netflix

With gamers being mainstream, video streaming services and their content offerings can benefit by increasing focus on the preferences of gamers. Crucially, this enables subscription video on demand (SVOD)...

Attention economy
Reasons, not ways, to spend attention

Hanna Kahlert

March 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Netflix

Audiences are consuming in different ways, on different platforms, and at different times – from lean-back passive viewing, to lean-forward on-demand, lean-in social engagement, and lean-through creation....

Year of change
Themes that will shape entertainment in 2023

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston, Perry Gresham, Sam Griffin, Ben Woods and Srishti Das

February 2023

Spotify

YouTube

Amazon

This report deep dives into the themes identified in MIDiA’s 2023 predictions report. These themes will drive innovation in the digital entertainment landscape in 2023 across music, video, games, audio,...

Watch parties
Rebooting the watercooler moment

Ben Woods

February 2023

Video

YouTube

Amazon

Group watching television with family and friends is being consigned to a bygone era. Algorithms are forcing entertainment consumers into silos through an endless stream of personally recommended content...

Kill the campaign
Music marketing needs branding, not direct response

Mark Mulligan and Tatiana Cirisano

February 2023

Streaming

Spotify

Marketing

The debate over a new streaming royalties regime is capturing attention, but economics will not fix the underlying paradigm shifts that are the true cause for streaming’s problems: there is not enough...

Stream, interact, repeat
Why SVOD needs a social engagement revolution

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Ben Woods

January 2023

Video

YouTube

Netflix

Audience engagement with subscription video on demand (SVOD) services is sliding, with multi-tasking on social media often relegating shows to background viewing. Social media is the threat, but also the...

Social 2.0
Social media’s survival of the fittest, and how marketers fit in

Ashleigh Millar

December 2022

YouTube

Netflix

Facebook

The history of social media has long been defined by continual evolution and iteration, but now shifts across the value chain are becoming more substantive, heralding a new era. Social platforms themselves...

2023 MIDiA predictions
Pivot point

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Srishti Das, Kriss Thakrar, Ashleigh Millar, Tatiana Cirisano, Annie Langston, Perry Gresham, Sam Griffin, Kazia Rothwell and Ben Woods

December 2022

Apple

YouTube

Amazon

In this report, MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, games, marketing, audio and cultural trends in 2023 and...

Closing the background gap
Focused versus background audio listening

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Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano and Annie Langston

November 2022

Spotify

Radio

YouTube

The rise of attention inflation means that consumers are maximising their limited time by multitasking between various formats, spurring a rise in background consumption. This creates a “new” space...

State of the music creator economy
Post-lockdown growth

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Mark Mulligan, Kriss Thakrar and Tatiana Cirisano

September 2022

Apple

Spotify

live

The Covid pandemic created a unique catalyst for the music creator economy. More time on hands and more cash in pockets gave novices and veterans alike the opportunity to spend both more time and money...

Lean-through consumption
Communities are key

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Hanna Kahlert

August 2022

Spotify

YouTube

Netflix

Entertainment consumption is increasingly shaped by context, as consumers are driven by attention saturation to overlap behaviours as well as choose between them. Different forms of entertainment are better...

Reports: Twitch