FIFA Reports from MIDiA Research

Tipping point
The coming consolidation of live service games

Karol Severin and Perry Gresham

July 2023

FIFA

The games industry has become addicted to the promise of lower risk and better ROI from live service games. As a result, there has been a flurry of live service titles released over the last 10 years....

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...

Tipping point
How in-game spending will eat the games world

Karol Severin

February 2023

steam

Ubisoft

FIFA

Though parts of the games industry still stigmatize in-game purchases, the business model is a fundamental part of a successful and sustainable growth formula for games companies. The current macroeconomic...

Esports viewers update
A valuable segment with a (solvable) growth problem

Richard Broadhurst

May 2022

Vevo

Facebook

Twitter

Esports currently struggle to attract consumers beyond esports enthusiasts and players of esport-centric titles. Despite growth problems, the esports viewer segment remains valuable. These consumers have...

Getting serious about esports
Identifying off-season digital engagement opportunities for sports

Cover image for Getting serious about esports

Alistair Taylor

March 2021

Games

Yahoo

esports

COVID-19 has expedited the need for rights holders and teams to generate digital engagement beyond the pure play live broadcast. Games and esports became big attention economy winners during the early...

Sports audiences
The Gen Z opportunity

Alistair Taylor

February 2021

Apple

Spotify

Digital natives are more likely to consume non-live sports than older, traditional sports fans, which presents rights holders and broadcasters with untapped potential for monetisation by harnessing and...

Cultural Trends in 2021
Navigating a New Normal

Hanna Kahlert

December 2020

Apple

Spotify

Behaviours under coronavirus-driven lockdowns accelerated underlying digital consumption trends. Remote working and ongoing restrictions mean streaming behaviour is up across formats and demographics at...

Recovery Economics
Post-Lockdown Sports

Alistair Taylor

August 2020

Disney

Comcast

Sky

As live sports resume following the coronavirus crisis lockdowns, the long-term impact of sports’ mass hiatus will be substantial. An activity gap created a void state for consumers, freeing up previously...

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

Cover image for Profiling Esports Viewers

Karol Severin

August 2020

Consumer behaviour

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...

Sports Consumption
Measuring COVID-19’s Impact

Alistair Taylor

July 2020

Apple

Video

Discovery

With the pandemic-enforced postponement of live sports creating an entertainment void for sports fans, understanding COVID-19’s impact on overall sports consumption and where audiences are substituting...

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...

COVID-19 and the Vulnerability of Pure Play Sports Streaming Services

Alistair Taylor

April 2020

Subscriptions

US

UK

The postponement of annual competitions and major quadrennial events has highlighted just how heavily pay-TV and sport-centric streaming services’ value propositions rely on live sports. Filling schedules...

Sports Consumer Trends
The Sun Sets on Pay-TV Dominance

Alistair Taylor

February 2020

Video

Amazon

Facebook

With subscription video on demand (SVOD) services surpassing pay-TV penetration en route to becoming a mainstream medium, sporting consumption habits have inherently changed. Rights holders, broadcasters,...

Battle Royale
The Monetisation Sweet Spot

Karol Severin

January 2020

Facebook

Twitter

Gaming

Niche is the new mainstream. Battle Royale players are one of these niches – far from mainstream in terms of consumer penetration, but impactful and valuable. Across music, video, news, magazines and...

US and UK Sports Fans
Reaching Digital Natives

Alistair Taylor

December 2019

YouTube

Amazon

revenue

Sports as a product is feeling the squeeze of the peak attention economy. Sports fans in the traditional sense are ageing, and appealing to a younger digitally-native audience is a fundamental issue that...

US Gamers
Targeting Games Franchises to Compete in the Attention Economy

Karol Severin

September 2019

YouTube

Netflix

Facebook

Games used to be isolated from other media activities. This has all changed with the rise of the attention economy, and the shift of gaming devices from purely consoles, to smartphones now supporting other...

E-sports
An Alternative Future for Televised Sports?

Alistair Taylor, Karol Severin, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller

April 2019

Video

YouTube

Amazon

E-sports continue to gain attention, with more brands seeking to enter the space populated as it is by a succession of new leagues, competitions and teams. But for all the hype, e-sports has not yet managed...

The Sports Video Landscape
Sports Streaming Services in a Digital First Ecosystem

Cover image for The Sports Video Landscape

Alistair Taylor

July 2018

Consumer behaviour

Video

Amazon

The 13.2% dip on the 2019–2022 English Premier League (EPL) rights deals compared to the 2015-2018 deal highlighted the decline in value for sports broadcast rights. In light of this downturn and a fall...

Grand Theft Auto Fan Profile
The Mainstream Hardcore Gamers

Karol Severin

May 2017

YouTube

Deezer

Games

Grand Theft Auto (GTA) is among the most popular console game title franchises in the market. Despite the controversy, the brand has managed to establish a solid fan foothold across genders and ages. GTA...

The Emergence Of The Always On Gamer
Profiling Console Owners

Cover image for The Emergence Of The Always On Gamer

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...

Reports: FIFA