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.

Gamers: The new frontier of music’s fan-centric growth

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Karol Severin

13 Apr 2021

Music companies have begun to realise that as their industry has grown, it has also transferred much of its previous fan value into the subscription and song economy. The outbreak of COVID-19 and the subsequent halt of live music events (which, since the advent of streaming, became music’s key way...

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Why games companies need to take Apple’s Arcade expansion seriously

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Karol Severin

9 Apr 2021

Apple announced a significant expansion of Apple Arcade last week, including more than 180 new games across three new games categories: ‘Timeless Classics’, ‘App Store Greats’ and ‘New Arcade Exclusives’.

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Microsoft’s interest in Discord confirms MIDiA’s prediction

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Karol Severin

31 Mar 2021

In November 2020, we wrote the below in our annual predictions report . “Upping gaming experiences via ‘infrastructural acquisitions’: As non-gaming entertainment increasingly embeds in games, companies will look to upgrade their ecosystems to cater beyond consumers’ gaming needs and instead...

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Why Roblox is well set to withstand the COVID bounce effect

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Karol Severin

15 Mar 2021

lean-in consumption

Roblox has launched an initial public offering (IPO) this week. Timing-wise, the twice-delayed IPO aligns with the world getting closer to opening up, and out-of-home competitive pressures returning. This invites questions around how much of the current valuation is aided by a temporary, artificial ...

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Esports’ critical mass challenge: Solutions are beyond games

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Karol Severin

19 Feb 2021

cross-entertainment strategy

Esports have been receiving much coverage in recent years – from sold-out arenas, through to record-breaking live streaming events, right up to the formation of news outlets which solely cover esports.

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Driving cross-generational appeal in entertainment universes

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Karol Severin

8 Feb 2021

cross-generational

Building and maintaining cross-generational appeal in entertainment is hard. A key challenge is in catering to seemingly wildly different consumer segments with the inherent risk of targeting ‘kind of everybody’ , which may lead to true fandom with nobody.

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Music and Games Partnership Strategy
Beyond the Comfort Zone

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Karol Severin

January 2021

Apple

Spotify

Spotify

Music companies are flocking to explore partnerships with games companies. Seeking a foothold in a fast-growing market, music companies are often looking for easy wins that fit traditional licensing models that monetise consumption. These however, typically do not align with the games industry’s spend-centric worldview.

Why acquiring Codemasters is a double-edged sword for EA

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Karol Severin

22 Jan 2021

EA’s portfolio is still heavily dependent on third party IP licenses EA’s revenue is heavily dependent on licensed IP titles. This includes FIFA, Madden NFL, NHL, as well as its whole Star Wars games portfolio.

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WMG invests in Roblox, a major step in bridging music and gaming

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Karol Severin

11 Jan 2021

Warner Music Group has invested an eight-figure sum in Roblox as a part of its $520 million fundraising round. This in an important strategic move for the label, as it marks a milestone on its journey to build symbiotic, rather than transactional, relationships with games companies – a fundamental...

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Can Roblox get a better value out of its IPO postponement?

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Karol Severin

16 Dec 2020

cross-entertainment

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Roblox is delaying its IPO to 2021. WSJ states that “…company officials decided that the gravity-defying performance this week ofAirbnb andDoorDash made it too difficult to determine the right price for the videogame company’s shares”.

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2021 Predictions
The Year of the Immersive Web

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Mark Mulligan, Tim Mulligan, Karol Severin, Alistair Taylor and Hanna Kahlert

November 2020

Spotify

Spotify

Discovery

In this report MIDiA Research analysts present their predictions for what will be the big trends in digital media and tech across music, video, brands, marketing, games and sports in 2021 and beyond. Companies and brands mentioned in this report: Amazon...

Next-Generation Consoles
PS5 Starts in Pole Position

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Karol Severin

November 2020

YouTube

Amazon

Xbox

The winter holiday season has always been important for next-generation console launches, but this one is different. Negative effects of the current recession will intensify, engagement will be less predictable and device-agnostic games subscription competition is set to heat up.

Post-Pandemic Programming Webinar Presentation

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

November 2020

Video

Music

Games

After a period of disruption to the global entertainment landscape, many businesses have found a way to adapt to the new normal, but the recession and prospect of further pandemic peaks have created an unprecedented outlook for entertainment companies.

Why Take-Two Interactive does not need to adopt games subscriptions yet

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Karol Severin

10 Nov 2020

take two interactive

games subscriptions

Take-Two Interactive (T2) reported quarterly results, with revenue dipping slightly, but profitability improving. On the call, T2 reiterated scepticism over the future of the games subscription models.

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PS5 and Travis Scott partnership illustrate PlayStation’s/Sony’s cross-entertainment future

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Karol Severin

29 Oct 2020

Over the last year we have written a number of times that Sony’s future is cross-entertainment , while Xbox’s future is cross platform . This stems from their respective strengths and weaknesses. Sony would find it, at best, incredibly challenging to compete with Microsoft on cloud, cross-platfo...

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More consumers intend to buy PS5 than Xbox Series X, but both companies will be content with their trajectory

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Karol Severin

16 Oct 2020

With both PS5 and Xbox Series X having sold out their pre-order stock, the winter holiday race is heating up. Following Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, we wrote that the acquisition is unlikely to have a short-term impact on console sales, and rather play a larger role in the conversion ...

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Microsoft’s Zenimax acquisition is about the future of Games Pass more than console sales

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Karol Severin

30 Sep 2020

With the acquisition of ZeniMax Media, Microsoft is gaining an important content asset for its portfolio – Bethesda’s games. And while the timing of the announcement certainly won’t make Sony too happy as it is about to launch PS5, the key benefits of this acquisition are tied to the future of...

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Quick Take: PS5 pricing unveiled – an important milestone in its cross-entertainment future

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Karol Severin

17 Sep 2020

Sony’s PS5 Showcase event unveiled a number of upcoming titles and pricing for its upcoming console. At $499 and $399 it confirmed expectations. The top range is the same as Xbox Series X, with the PS5 disc-less version being $100 more expensive.

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Post-Pandemic Programming
Surviving and Thriving in the Recession

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

September 2020

Apple

Apple

live

COVID-19 caused dislocation and disruption to the global entertainment business. Now, the recession and the prospect of further pandemic peaks have created an unprecedented outlook for entertainment companies. Many of the shifts that occurred during lockdown will define the new market dynamics.

Is it time for the music industry to rethink how it wants to participate in the gaming opportunity?

Cover image for Is it time for the music industry to rethink how it wants to participate in the gaming opportunity?

Karol Severin

4 Sep 2020

cross-entertainment strategy

Music consumption, particularly in the West, is commoditised. Transforming from the economies of ownership to access and the removal of production and distribution barriers led to the devaluation of, not necessarily ‘the song’, but of ‘ listening to a song’ .

min read

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