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.

Tech Major Market Shares 2019
Amazon Powers Ahead

Cover image for Tech Major Market Shares 2019
Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin and Alistair Taylor
The tech majors are power players in the global digital content marketplace through a combination of their own content services, ad monetisation and control of audiences via devices, search and social. While advertising and services revenues are still a minority of total tech major revenues, the share is substantial, and revenues are growing fast.
Read more …

Could Google Eat the E-sports Media Rights World?

Cover image for Could Google Eat the E-sports Media Rights World?
Karol Severin
Google entered a media rights partnership with Activision in January, including rights for the Overwatch League, Call of Duty League and HearthStone. Last week The Esports Observer reported on multiple sources which claimed the value of the deal to be $160 million paid over three years, including rights to Overwatch League, Call of Duty and Hearthstone.
min read
Read more …

Recession Impact
How an Economic Downturn Could Reshape Digital Media

Cover image for Recession Impact
Alistair Taylor, Amanda Stears, Karol Severin, Keith Jopling, Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan and Zach Fuller
Ten years on from the credit crunch, the global economy could be poised to enter another economic recession. Many of the underlying causes of the credit crunch remain in place, due to governments lacking the appetite for the structural reform required to right the faults in the global financial system that catalysed the slowdown.
Read more …

Why PlayStation Now’s Price Cut Alone Is Not Enough To Compete

Karol Severin
Despite a price cut, PlayStation remains the most expensive gaming experience: PlayStation has announced a 50% price cut to its games streaming service, PlayStation Now. Though slicing a streaming service price point in half is a bold move which will attract a lot of media attention, the reality is that despite the price reduction the ability to get a complete gaming experience out of Sony remains comparatively expensive: Console (assuming average 4.
min read
Read more …

US Gamers
Targeting Games Franchises to Compete in the Attention Economy

Cover image for US Gamers
Karol Severin
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 media formats. This dynamic opens a floodgate of opportunities for media and entertainment companies, tech majors, telcos and brands alike to create cross-entertainment collaboration and marketing opportunities.
Read more …