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.

MIDiA’s analysts answer questions on their 2025 predictions

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Karol Severin

5 Feb 2025

Business Strategy

We are delighted by the overwhelmingly positive response and discussions sparked during our 2025 predictions webinar. We are grateful for all the engaging questions you asked during the session. Though we were unable to get through all of the excellent questions in the one-hour window, we certainly have not forgotten them.

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Creators and the creator economy
Defining the undefinable

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Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert and Ben Woods

January 2025

Creators

Cultural trends

Creator economy

20 years since the launch of YouTube, the creator economy is not new – but it lacks a single clear definition. Different interest groups who interact with it all have their perspectives, but this lack of consistency can result in misunderstandings at best and strategic missteps at worst.

MIDiA's 2025 predictions webinar slides
It's social's stage now

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Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

December 2024

Spotify

YouTube

Twitch

MIDiA's expert analysts dive into our 2025 predictions for the music, social, video, audio, and games industries – and explain why we believe "it's social's stage now".

MIDiA’s 2025 predictions
It’s social’s stage now

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Mark Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Tatiana Cirisano, Ben Woods, Rutger Rosenborg, Rhys Elliott and Olivia Jones

December 2024

Apple

Spotify

YouTube

The creator economy reshaped entertainment in the first half of the 2020s and social wasthe big winner, now positioned at the centre of the entertainment economy. In 2025 wewill see the second-order effects begin to play out, set against the backdrop of attentionsaturation, content commodification, and increased focus on profit.

The case for in-game video platforms
Closing the direct-to-consumer gap

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Karol Severin

November 2024

Product Strategy

Game publishers have long used third-party video platforms like Twitch and YouTube as a springboard to promote their games. Meanwhile, Twitch and YouTube get advertising and creator-driven revenues in return. The relationship has largely been reciprocal and beneficial for both parties.

Three key growth opportunities in a stagnant(ish) games market

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Karol Severin

25 Sep 2024

Business Strategy

The global games industry has matured. Growth has slowed and will remain in the low single digits for the remainder of the decade. Inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, combined with a growing number of games competing for consumers’ increasingly limited time, make competing in the games industry more challenging than ever.

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The ‘why’ and ‘what’ behind in-game spending

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Karol Severin

August 2024

Audience Insight

As the games industry matures and global games revenue growth slows down, in-game spending will remain one of the industry’s key growth drivers. Historically, in-game spending was mostly associated with advantage-gaining items. In 2024 however, cosmetic in-game items account for the majority of in-game spending and will be increasing their share for the remainder of the decade.

The case for shorter games

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Karol Severin

11 Jul 2024

Attention economy

Following the post-pandemic slowdown of global games revenue growth, cost-cutting measures are now in full force. However, games continue to grow in scope and length, with budgets often exceeding hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Music artists, TV shows, and film are best positioned brand categories for in-game item activations

Karol Severin

28 Jun 2024

in-game monetisation

cross-entertainment

Accounting for 67% of global games software revenue in 2023, in-game spending plays a crucial role in monetising gamers. Over the years, cosmetic in-game spending (which does not grant advantages or progress in-game) has gained importance, especially among younger consumers.

min read

Playable Post Malone in WWE is a cross-entertainment bullseye

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Karol Severin

20 Jun 2024

cross-entertainment

Wrestling game WWE 2K24 shared an image of the playable Post Malone character this week. The rapper and producer is joining the playable roster as a part of the game’s upcoming DLC pack. Having curated the soundtrack to WWE 2K24, becoming a playable character in-game is a further continuation of his relationship with the title and serves as a great case study for cross-entertainment in-game activations.

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Gamers
A cross-entertainment summary

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Karol Severin

June 2024

Business Strategy

This report presents the key figures, behaviors, and preferences of gamers across entertainment. Graphics in this report show selected gamer segments, compared to relevant consumer segments across entertainment as appropriate. An accompanying Excel file provides country-by-country figures and data for 60+ additional gamer segments, including by games genre fandom, by games title, and by various gamer specific behaviors (e.

Fortnite
A cross-entertainment oasis?

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Karol Severin

June 2024

Read the case study …

Gamers' time
Where it is and how to get it

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Karol Severin

April 2024

Business Strategy

Product Strategy

With the attention economy saturated, there is next to no incremental entertainment time up for grabs. This comes precisely at a time when more games depend on growing time spent. As games are only the fifth most consumed entertainment activity among PC and console gamers, the path for games to meaningfully grow time spent is to absorb consumers’ time spent on other entertainment formats.

Take-Two acquires Gearbox as cross entertainment synergies ramp up

Cover image for Take-Two acquires Gearbox as cross entertainment synergies ramp up

Karol Severin

28 Mar 2024

take two interactive

We have barely made it to the end of the first calendar quarter of 2024 and MIDiA’s prediction about a $100 million+ acquisition in the games industry has panned out. Take-Two Interactive (Take-Two) is acquiring The Gearbox Entertainment Company from Embracer for $460 million, paid with common stock.

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Games subscription user deep dive
More is more

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Karol Severin

February 2024

Audience Insight

Games subscriptions are playing an increasingly important role in the distribution section of the games industry’s value chain. A growing number of developers, therefore, must think through whether to partner with subscription services and, if so, which ones.

Quick take: The games industry health check

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Karol Severin

27 Feb 2024

In recent weeks and months, a growing number of people have been asking: “What is going on with the games industry?”, “Is the games industry doomed now?”, “Is it done growing?”, “If neither a new Switch or GTA 6 are getting released this year, is the games industry going to have a weak year?”, or some other typically sceptical permutation thereof.

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Why the Xbox announcement is an important and strategically smart nod to developers

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Karol Severin

16 Feb 2024

Xbox announcement

Xbox announced on its podcast with Phil Spencer, Sarah Bond and Matt Booty, that it is bringing four of its titles to other consoles. While no specific titles were named, it ruled out Starfield and Indiana Jones, and mentioned that two of the games are community driven and the remainder are smaller games that may have reached a plateau on Xbox.

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The context behind Disney’s investment into Epic Games

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Karol Severin

15 Feb 2024

Disney announced it is investing $1.5 billion into Epic Games. The same announcement talks about a creation of an “ expansive and open games and entertainment universe connected to Fortnite ”. This move makes sense for Disney on several levels and is perhaps one of the most impactful games-related moves for Disney’s overall cultural relevance, engagement, monetisation capabilities, and profitability.

min read

MIDiA's 2024 predictions webinar
The algorithm is not listening

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Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Hanna Kahlert, Kriss Thakrar, Tatiana Cirisano, Perry Gresham, Kazia Rothwell, Ben Woods and Ashleigh Millar

January 2024

MIDiA analysts dive into our 2024 predictions, and why we believe the algorithm isn't listening. Watch the webinareither on YouTube or LinkedIn ....

For years, we said to take games efforts of these companies seriously – now they are serious players

Cover image for For years, we said to take games efforts of these companies seriously – now they are serious players

Karol Severin

12 Jan 2024

MIDiA has always been bullish about traditionally non-gaming tech companies’ opportunity in games. The first time we wrote about Netflix’s opportunity in games was in 2017. We also wrote about the significance of Apple Arcade early on ( here , here , and reiterated reasons for the games industry to take it seriously again, here ).

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