Karol Severin

Karol is a co-founder and Research Director at MIDiA. With over a decade of experience in consumer research, industry analysis, and consulting, Karol oversees the direction, coverage and quality of all MIDiA’s research output. Prior to co-founding MIDiA, Karol gained experience in TMT market research and consulting, as well as an entertainment industry startup founder. He holds a business management degree from Queen Mary, University of London, with specialisation in strategy, quantitative methods, and entrepreneurship.

The Emergence Of The Always On Gamer
Profiling Console Owners

Karol Severin

March 2017

Apple

Google

Apple TV

The game console owner segment is evolving fast. Still relatively young for now, console game fans are both aging and heading towards truly mainstream demographic distribution. Simultaneously, console...

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Apple Just Put Another Nail In Snapchat’s Proverbial Coffin

Karol Severin

22 Mar 2017

apple clips

clips

Facebook

Yesterday Apple announced it will launch Clips in April, a video-making app that allows users to capture photos and videos, combine multiple videos and include a variety of features like Filters, Overlays,...

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Why Apple Dedicated A Feature Page To Indie Games

Karol Severin

17 Mar 2017

app store

Apple

appstore

Apple’s App Store introduced a permanent feature page for indie games yesterday. The move is another step in Apple’s ongoing effort to provide more effective discovery tools and thus, drive more value...

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Facebook’s ‘Disputed News’ Shows Intent But Does Not Solve The Fake News Problem

Karol Severin

7 Mar 2017

disputed news

Facebook

Fake News

Last week Facebook started to roll out a feature which allows users to flag content as ‘disputed’, in a bid to mitigate the circulation of fake news on the site. Stories flagged by users will then...

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Twitch Will Start Selling Games And Offer A Cut To Streamers

Karol Severin

1 Mar 2017

content monetisation

game streaming

game video

Twitch, the game video streaming platform owned by Amazon, announced yesterday that it will start selling games via streamers’ channels. This alone is news-worthy, but what makes the announcement a potential...

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Shine Pivots From Advertising’s ‘Nuclear Threat’ To Advertising’s Rainbow

Karol Severin

24 Feb 2017

ad tech

ad verification

Adblock

I have written about the journey of the network-level adblocker Shine numerous times. The company has come into the public eye due to its disruptive effort of offering adblocking at the network level to...

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Mobile Gamer User Profile
Mobile Is The Unifying Factor For Gamers

Karol Severin

February 2017

Spotify

YouTube

Deezer

Whatever your digital content proposition, mobile gamers comprise a significant share of your user base. The segment is not only important due to its sheer size and app economy value, but also because...

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Quick Take: WeChat Introduces Paid Content For Public Accounts

Karol Severin

20 Feb 2017

Messaging apps

Mobile content

Mobile messaging

It’s no secret that Asian messaging platforms have been leading much of the global innovation efforts, regarding the monetization of mobile messaging. Last week it emerged that WeChat is trialling Paid...

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YouTube’s Super Chat Is A Guerrilla Marketing Gift To Advertisers

Karol Severin

9 Feb 2017

Critical Developments

Super Chat is an interesting attempt at monetizing mobile messaging and live video both, for creators and YouTube. The company has announced its launch this week in 20 countries, giving creators and communication-thirsty...

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Why Snapchat’s IPO Invites Scepticism

Karol Severin

3 Feb 2017

Facebook

Instagram stories

Mobile content

The IPO filing of Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, is one of the most anticipated moves of 2017. But as yesterday brought the opportunity for the public to review the prospectus, it reaffirmed existing...

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Mobile App Cross Usage
Music

Karol Severin

February 2017

Streaming Music

streaming subscriptions

value proposition

Mobile app usage is defined by consumers engaging with a multitude of propositions, even when they serve a very similar purpose. Consumers often use multiple different messaging apps, video apps and music...

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What Ad Tests On Messenger Tell Us About Facebook’s Plan To Monetize Messaging

Karol Severin

27 Jan 2017

ads on messenger

Facebook

facebook ads

Facebook has begun testing the integration of ads into Messenger. It allows advertisers to place banners onto the users’ home screen on the instant messaging service. Ads on Messenger have been a long...

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YouTube Rolls Out A Chat Feature

Karol Severin

19 Jan 2017

Mobile content

Mobile messaging

Online video

After months of testing, YouTube is rolling out its chat feature. It launched Wednesday in Canada only for now, with other countries to follow. In the escalatingwar of big tech companies to establish Mobile...

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Apple Shows Its Walled Platform Muscle With A 25% App Store Price Hike

Karol Severin

17 Jan 2017

Media and Marketing

Apple has just announced in an email to developers, that it will increase App Store prices by nearly 25% in the UK starting next week, following the fluctuations of the British Pound since the Brexit referendum....

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Snapchat’s Pre-IPO Nightmares: Instagram Launches Ads On Stories To 150 Million Daily Users

Karol Severin

12 Jan 2017

Instagram

Instagram Ads

Instagram stories

Instagram has announced the launch of ads in Stories. Stories are a feature pinned at the top of Instagram’s user feed, enabling them to showcase and browse photos and videos of other users. Instagram...

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Will Amazon Eat The Voice Command World?

Karol Severin

9 Jan 2017

Alexa

Amazon

Amazon Echo

Last year was undoubtedly the year of video. As CES kicked off to shine more light on where the efforts of the industry are headed this year, it is becoming increasingly clear just how much voice command...

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Quick Take: Can Pokemon Go Help Boost The Smartwatch Market?

Karol Severin

23 Dec 2016

Apple Watch

Innovation

Mobile content

Pokemon Go launched for Apple Watch with an Android version coming soon. The smartwatch version will undoubtedly provide better experience to Pokemon Go players, but will the mobile gaming phenomenon prove...

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Over 50 And Mobile
Profiling The Underserved Older Mobile Consumer

Karol Severin

December 2016

mobile behaviour

50+ segment

50 year old

The over 50 segment has been one of the most neglected during the rise of mobile platforms, social media and digital entertainment. The neglect is understandable considering their well-earned reputation...

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Why Super Mario Run Will Be A Hit Game, But Not A Mobile Craze

Karol Severin

16 Dec 2016

mario run

Mobile content

mobile games

Nintendo launched its much anticipated Super Mario Run yesterday on iOS globally. The media has been flirting with Pokemon Go comparisons throughout the lead up to the release. The record breaking story...

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Adblocker User Deep Dive – High Value Users That Cannot Be Ignored

Karol Severin

9 Dec 2016

adblocker users

adblockers

adblocking

MIDiA Research has published our latest adblocking report:‘Adblocker User Deep Dive – High Value Users That Cannot Be Ignored.In it we combine data on adblocker user demographics, their media behaviour...

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