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 Esports Viewer Dossier
Q2 2020

Karol Severin

August 2020

Games

esports

Audience Insight

The Esports Viewer DossierQ2 2020 covers: Demographics and penetration Genre and sports preferences Time and money spent Service usage Entertainment behaviours...

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Epic Games takes on the media giants in #freefortnite fiasco

Karol Severin

21 Aug 2020

Fortnite

Epic Games

Apple

Conflict between the gaming world and the tech giants erupted last Thursday, with Fortnite being removed from the App Store and Play Store, two lawsuits being registered, and a (niche) viral outbreak of...

min read

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Could gaming kill the video star?

Karol Severin

12 Aug 2020

Games

venn

games video

The Video Games Entertainment & News Network, or ‘ Venn’ , was launched on the 5th of August – marking another important milestone on entertainment’s journey of intertwining across formats...

min read

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Profiling Esports Viewers
The Synergy of Spend, Ad Receptiveness and Engagement

Karol Severin

August 2020

Consumer behaviour

Spotify

Spotify

As live events have halted, attracting non-endemic brands to esports via digital content has moved to the forefront for esports companies. But attracting the largest brands often requires close-to-mainstream...

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Quick take: Xbox’s future is cross-platform, PlayStation’s is cross-entertainment

Karol Severin

30 Jul 2020

Games

playstation now

xbox game pass

If Fortnite showed us anything, it’s that the future of entertainment is about monetising fandom – not just consumption and access to content. Games are perfectly positioned to help monetise fandom...

min read

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How games continue to drive a cultural shift

Karol Severin

24 Jul 2020

Games

Gaming

cultural insight

The strides gaming has made in recent years regarding its cultural relevance are hard to ignore. Twenty years ago, consumers defined their cultural image through the music they listened to, the clothes...

min read

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The hidden value of esports audiences

Karol Severin

20 Jul 2020

Games

esports

AVOD

Esports video viewers are becoming more interesting to brands and media companies. Increasingly more focus is now put on accurately valuing esports audiences. Gamers (and even more so, esports viewers)...

min read

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Sony buys stake in Epic Games: Small equity, large impact

Karol Severin

13 Jul 2020

Games

Epic Games

Sony

Sony has made a strategic investment of $250 million to acquire a minority stake in Epic Games. According to Venture Beat , Sony will own 1.4% of the company, valuing Epic Games at $17.86 billion. While...

min read

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Quick Take: Amazon’s pull-back of Crucible is a setback, but don’t sign it off just yet

Karol Severin

6 Jul 2020

Games

Amazon

Crucible

Amazon has decided to pull the release of its game, Crucible, back to beta following feedback from early users. Much of the games community is taking jabs at Amazon about its lack of gaming DNA and deeming...

min read

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Ninja’s next move crucial, as Apple Rejects Facebook Gaming App

Karol Severin

24 Jun 2020

Ninja

games streaming

Twitch

For the lack of better word, times are about get crazy for the mid-to-top tier end of games streamers and creators as the content wars heat up, so here are some observations and hopefully some useful pro...

min read

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Recovery Economics
Outlook for Music, Games, Video & Sports

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin and Alistair Taylor

June 2020

Video

Recorded music

Music streaming

MIDiA analysts present in this webinar report how the entertainment industries can plan not to simply bounce back, but to rebuild their value propositions and supply chains to adjust to the realities of...

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Media Companies Divesting From Games Is A Double-Edged Sword

Karol Severin

17 Jun 2020

Games

Covid-19

at&t

Just a couple of weeks ago MIDiA Research wrote about Endeavor selling off its Epic Games stake . Now it has emerged that AT&T is looking to sell off Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment (WBIE), the...

min read

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What PlayStation 5 Tells Us About Sony's Trajectory

Karol Severin

12 Jun 2020

Games

Gaming

playstation 5

PlayStation put on an impressive showcase of 20+ upcoming titles, culminating in presenting the design of its new console, PlayStation 5, due to launch later this year. Though no launch date, price or...

min read

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Recovery Economics
Games Sees Temporary Bounce but Should Prepare For Decline

Karol Severin

June 2020

Amazon

Netflix

Games

The effects of the coronavirus-induced crisis unfolded in multiple stages, each with its own characteristics. During the early outbreak and strict lockdowns, games engagement benefited greatly. The cessation...

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Recovery Economics
Bounce Forward not Back - Slides

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin and Keith Jopling

June 2020

Free Report

Video

Music

Games

MIDiA analysts present in this webinar how the entertainment industries can plan not to simply bounce back, but to rebuild their value propositions and supply chains to adjust to the realities of the new...

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Dealing with Crises During The Crisis Is a Part Of New Normal

Karol Severin

2 Jun 2020

Call of Duty

crisis management

Games

Sony , EA , and Activision were among companies to postpone marketing events and product release efforts in light of the current protests against police brutality and racism in the United States. The current...

min read

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PlayStation Now and Xbox Game Pass Increase Subscribers, But Recovery Will Favour Disruptors

Karol Severin

22 May 2020

Games

Both PlayStation (PS ) and Xbox have recently announced significant increases in their games streaming service user bases. Xbox Game Pass now has 10 million subscribers and PlayStation now has 2.2 million...

min read

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Recovery Economics
Post-Lockdown Innovation

Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor and Keith Jopling

May 2020

COVID-19 social distancing measures caused unprecedented dislocation to the entertainment economy. With a recession now a question of ‘how bad’ rather than ‘if’, entertainment companies have to...

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Endeavor, Epic Games and the Future Of Digital Entertainment Venues

Karol Severin

15 May 2020

digital entertainement venues

endeavor

Epic Games

Just a couple of months ago Endeavor was on its journey of building a true cross-entertainment conglomerate. Endeavor recognised a long time ago the synergies which can be achieved from cross-entertainment...

min read

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Recovery Economics
Music, Games, Live Streams and the Future of Concerts

Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin and Keith Jopling

May 2020

live music

live

Artists

In April 2020 Travis Scott’s Fortnite event pulled in 27 million players. While this was happening, the global artist community was scrambling to plug the income and engagement gap caused by COVID-19’s...

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