5 Media Trends for 2025

Greetings!

This is Dylan, one of IPP’s co-founders. Since the people we’ve consulted for SEO told me we need blogs or suffer at the hands of the almighty, all-knowing, yet somehow not all-seeing algorithm (didn’t read that reddit post at all, it was the first thing to pop up) — here’s a blog!

We’ll be making these every week on topics ranging from corporate video best practices to interviews and even ranking daily habits from some of our favorite creators of all time. There’s a little something for everybody in the entertainment world which is why we’re going super broad and covering a bunch of different industries within entertainment for this one.

5 MEDIA TRENDS FOR 2025

I. Live Concerts will become a big chunk of the big streamers’ offerings

We all laughed at the definitely staged (I will die on that hill) Tyson vs. Paul fight and all of its technical glitches last year, but Netflix stepped it up for Christmas Day football. Amazon has been doing NFL games for a bit and Hulu kicked it all off with hockey a few years back (let’s go Sharks). Live offerings and unscripted content have become big money for the streamers, particularly since the strikes.

But with the record numbers for the Beyonce Bowl and the slow and steady march of Sabrina Carpenter’s Christmas special, I think live concerts and festivals are next up to get the big streamer boost. Why FaceTime your friend who’s at Coachella when it’s streaming (with plenty of ads!) on Netflix?

II. Christmas and Christian Movies will see wider theatrical releases

Regardless of your particular persuasion, faith-based media has seen a huge boom with the general rightward cultural shift of the last 4 years. Sound of Freedom boasted over $250 million at the box office and was a big topic at CinemaCon in 2024. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was number 1 its opening weekend and went on to gross $40 million against a $10 million budget. Don’t even get me started on Hot Frosty (which I’ve seen twice and adored).

Everyone online was talking about trad wives and TradCaths and selling Luigi Mangione veladoras. The media right now is saturated with Christian imagery which I think will peak sometime between this year and 2026.

III. Actors will be in the director’s chair for film and TV

As a former failed child actor turned director, it warms my heart seeing so many actors taking the reins by writing and/or directing things. In the last two years, as the big budget tentpole movie has more or less plateaued/taken a nosedive, we’re seeing more and more projects helmed by actors-turned-directors.

I couldn’t be happier: they have the technical know-how as well as the narrative and emotional know-how that so many directors lack (this is for another blog). From Ayo Edibri helming one of the best episodes of The Bear to Jordan Peele, Zoe Kravitz, Anna Kendrick, and Jesse Eisenberg making some killer films (pun intended), it’s very exciting to see actors taking cinema back from film nerds with too much money and not enough social skills.

I think we’ll continue to see this trend over the next 5 years as people reckon with AI — especially actors as they are at the forefront of dealing with it.

IV. Websites are back, baby

Speaking of AI, the more widespread use of AI has had a backlash that will be with us to stay for a while: craving individual expression. We’re already seeing glimpses of this on social media apps. The ascension of chaotic marketing, a new wave of guerrilla marketing and street campaigns, people switching out their phones for 2000s point and shoots, etc. This is at odds with the needs of companies pushing for further market consolidation, which requires faster turnaround and smaller budgets (hence their excitement around AI).

So: regular people want places they can go to, things they can touch, and experiences that feel authentic while companies want to make tons of things at scale. This dialectic has had a fun offshoot: an interest in classic websites. I think the personal/classic website will have a quick peak this year that will be niche but ultimately have staying power, like the vinyl boom a few years back. Now everybody has vinyls and they’re a mainstay of merch. For creators, that’s what the personal website will be so ready your bookmarks.

Quick side note for the last hyperlink — if you’re on LinkedIn and not subscribed to Beats & Bytes get yourself together.

V. 2010’s Aesthetics, but not where you think…

It’s pretty safe to say that considering indie sleaze’s big blip on the radar in 2024, in 2025 the 2010s will have a moment. Hopefully after that, we’ll have caught up with ourselves and actually make something new!

But when I say 2010s aesthetics I don’t mean visor shades, LMFAO, and highlighter tanks (that would be fun though). I think the 2010s aesthetics that will have staying power will be those of early Lana Del Rey, House of Balloons-era The Weeknd, and skit-riddled dubstep b-sides. This is because, as people have finally started to realize: the mainstream has no shelf life. If you live and die by trends, you don’t go anywhere. This is why the tentpole films are dying, platforms are plateauing, and AI hasn’t been the magic wand people thought it would be.

At the end of the day people like niche — and as people who use 60s surf music in all of their internal videos, we know that niche is what sticks.

Until next week, happy new year!