Event recap: Mobile World Congress 2022, Media & Entertainment

Maria Rua Aguete

Senior Research Director, Media and Entertainment

Maria Rua Aguete leads the strategic development of the media team and manages its day-to-day operations, tracking the continuing evolution of global service providers and operators. Maria first created the team while at Screen Digest, which became part of IHS Markit. 

The team’s research on service providers is deep and extensive, leveraging long-standing relationships with operators in all of the 70+ markets covered by the group, resulting in the most comprehensive source of television and operator market intelligence in the world. 

Maria is also a regular contributor to various reports, including the European Cable Yearbook, and she has led or has been a significant contributor to many consulting projects for high-profile media and technology companies, including the market-launch and purchase plans of an emerging television group, a Latin America DTT platform for a major channel group, and a satellite pay-TV provider for a private equity group. 

She has also performed commercial due diligence on a cable TV components business for a major international bank; a competitive review and strategic analysis for a major international channel operator; a comprehensive review of investment opportunities in the European cable market for a venture capital group; and a market report and due diligence on a localization services (dubbing/subtitling) company for an investment bank. 

Maria has collected many accolades throughout a storied career, and she is one of only 11 Technology Fellows named by IHS Markit during her time at the company, an honor that recognizes her deep expertise and exceptional standing within the analyst community. 

Maria holds a first class degree in economics and business studies from Vigo University in Spain, and an MBA from Cardiff Business School in Wales. She is a regular speaker at events like IBC and Mobile World Congress.   

George Jijiashvili

Senior Principal Analyst, Games

George leads research into video games and augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) hardware and content. As a member of Omdia’s games, music, and consumer AI team, he produces insight into his research areas through regular reports, market sizing, and forecasting.

Based in London, George focuses on areas including the video game market, cloud gaming, subscription services, AR/VR, and wearable technology. He is a regular speaker at major technology exhibitions and is a respected industry commentator, regularly quoted in mainstream publications. Prior to joining Omdia in 2019, George worked as a senior analyst at CCS Insight for six years. He holds a degree in international business with Russian from the University of Westminster

David Tett

Principal Analyst, Addressable Consumer Devices

David is Omdia’s principal analyst looking into addressable consumer devices in the visual entertainment team, providing media and telco clients with intel on the device ownership landscape and hardware uptake across the world. Previously he was responsible for Omdia’s forecasting into the mobile and telecoms market within the market data analytics & modelling team.

David joined Omdia (formerly Ovum) in 2018, and before joining Omdia, he was a market analyst, responsible for tracking, analyzing, and forecasting the worldwide TV, home video, and media streamer markets at Futuresource Consulting. David holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Cardiff University.

Tony Gunnarsson

Principal Analyst, TV, Video & Advertising

As part of Omdia's media and entertainment team, Tony Gunnarsson covers the global online video sector, with a specific interest in direct-to-consumer video services, across both subscription and transactional video, as well as online video aggregation.

His main research interests are in the premium, paid-for subscription online video (SVOD). Tony provides analysis of the key developments in the global online video market, consumer insights, and business intelligence. He also writes on adjacent developments in the broader TV and home entertainment market, including the emergence of AVOD services as a vehicle for premium content. Prior to joining Informa Tech (now Omida), formerly Ovum, in 2014, Tony worked as a senior analyst at IHS Markit, formerly IHS Screen Digest. He holds a master’s degree in imperial and commonwealth history from King’s College London.