What Digital Audiences Want in 2025 (E15)

01/23/25 • 53 min

This week, we welcome our first guest speaker, Alyssa Yuhas, Arcade’s Creative Director and resident Futurist. With a background working with online creators to Nike and the United Nations (Canada), Alyssa brings the experience and mindset for compelling results. Together, we break down the 2025 Trend Report and discuss 5 trends, revealing what digital audiences REALLY want this year. From authenticity to shared moments, here’s how creators and brands can meet the evolving demands.

More from us:

Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps:

02:05 – What exactly is a futurist?
05:40 – Scan club & Signals: Current, surprising and specific trends.
15:08 – Breaking down the 2025 Trend Report.
19:25 – Trend 1: People want to be seen.
24:15 – Trend 2: People crave realness. How do we keep it real?
29:07 – Trend 3: People want shared moments.
36:40 – Trend 4: People want to (parallel) play — being alone, together.
46:10 – Trend 5: People want ease. Making life more manageable.

Show notes:

The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025
The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2024 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2024

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

More from us:

Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps:

02:05 – What exactly is a futurist?
05:40 – Scan club & Signals: Current, surprising and specific trends.
15:08 – Breaking down the 2025 Trend Report.
19:25 – Trend 1: People want to be seen.
24:15 – Trend 2: People crave realness. How do we keep it real?
29:07 – Trend 3: People want shared moments.
36:40 – Trend 4: People want to (parallel) play — being alone, together.
46:10 – Trend 5: People want ease. Making life more manageable.

Show notes:

The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025
The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2024 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2024

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Previous Episode

4 Big Steps for Setting 2025 Goals (E14)

New year, new us? Nah. We’re about practical goals that help us take the things we’ve worked hard on to the next level. On today’s episode, we break down the 4-step process we use each year to set goals we can’t wait to achieve. We start by sharing our theme for the year, and then we break it down from setting a focus to identifying milestones. Hint: It might be the start of Mitzi’s running era and Mike is taking a page from Bruno Mars’ book.

More from us:

Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps:

00:15 – How we approach setting goals and themes for 2025 as business and life partners.
02:50 – Mike’s theme for the year.
05:40 – Mitzi’s theme for the year.
08:00 – After we’ve set our focus, how do we make this practical?
12:00 – Why we missed goals in previous years.
16:00 – Goals for 2025: sleep hygiene, writing, reading, and more.
21:00 – Identifying milestones to hit our goals.
29:10 – The last step: Talking about it (with the right people).

Show notes:

1. The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2024 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2024

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Next Episode

WAGS, Football Drama, and Meta Updates (E16)

What a weird week it has been online. TikTok was banned.. And then it wasn’t. Meta got rid of fact-checking (we dive into that) and things heat up in the football world. Let’s dive in.

More from us:

Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
Mike Payne @mmmiiike

Timestamps:

01:00 – TikTok was banned in the US... and then it wasn’t.
09:00 – While it was going down with TikTok, Meta launched a ton of updates (including a new grid, editing app, and more).
18:00 – Meanwhile, Meta is getting rid of fact-checking. Why it isn’t as bad as you might think.
24:20 – Drama from recent football games.
39:00 – Updates from the WAGs of the NFL.
42:00 – Check out our 2025 Trend Report! Linked in the show notes below.

Show notes:

The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025

Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).

For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.

Big Things Podcast - What Digital Audiences Want in 2025 (E15)

Transcript

Speaker 100:00:11.573

Welcome to Big Things . I'm Mitzi . This is Mike .

Speaker 200:00:14.740

This is our show where we talk about the things we're watching in marketing , social media , pop culture and sports and we go through the signals that we're seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing .

Speaker 100:00:23.920

Today on the show , we'