TL;DR

In a hurry? Here's our pick of the top news items of the week.

More than a third of UK audiences are attending fewer arts and cultural events compared with before the pandemic, with half also preferring to go to cultural venues that share their personal values. (The Stage)
TikTok users in the EU will soon be able to switch off the app's For You algorithm as it prepares to comply with the bloc’s updated digital rulebook. (Tech Crunch)
Google’s AI-powered Search Generative Experience is getting a big new feature: images and video. (The Verge)
The top 10 highest reviewed city destinations for domestic travelers in the US feature some of the usual suspects – like Boston and Chicago – but lean heavily into locations with natural attractions like Niagara Falls. (Statista)

Audiences

Australians cancelled 1.25M VOD accounts in Q2, up 100K QoQ, but the streaming sector maintained net growth with 1.6M new subscriptions added in the same period. (The Age)
The proportion of people in the UK watching any traditional TV broadcast declined from 83% in 2021 to 79% in 2022, driven in large part by increasingly cord-cutting older audiences. (The Guardian)
Between late April and mid-June, US demand for travel to Europe outpaced the same period in 2019 by up to 20%. (Axios)
80% of global consumers are "somewhat" or "very" interested in the metaverse, with the other 20% saying they are "not very" or "not at all" interested. (SPGlobal)

Ad-supported streaming tiers from Netflix, Disney and others have collectively surpassed 100M users in the US and could generate over $10B in revenue domestically by 2027. (The Wrap)
Meta’s ad revenue increased 12% to $31.5B YoY, beating analyst expectations and returning it to double-digit growth for the first time since 2021. (MarTech)
54% of influencers have already posted Threads sponsored content since its launch a month ago. (Insider)
Foxtel will be launching a new brand and hardware in Australia later this year based on Sky UK’s Glass platform. (The Age)
TikTok captured 42% of video streaming minutes in APAC in H1 '23, cutting into the dominance of YouTube (-4%) and time spent watching premium VOD (-2%) in the region. (Variety)
Nasa will be launching its own streaming service later this year that will live stream Nasa missions and feature original video series and new shows. (Yahoo)
Warner Bros. Discovery lost 1.8M subscribers in Q2 amid the Max rebrand, bringing its subscriber count to 95.8M. (Tech Crunch)
Apple TV+ has risen to a 8.3% demand share as of Q2, just behind Amazon Prime Video (8.6%), though both services trail Netflix (36.3%). (Media Post)
Amazon’s online advertising unit continues to grow; the platform brought in over $10B in Q2 ad sales. (CNBC)

February’s Super Bowl will feature a kid-friendly broadcast on Nickelodeon, marking the first time the game will air on a channel other than the one with primary rights. (Marketing Brew)
About three weeks into its run, "Barbie" has raked in $1.03B at the global box office. Only about 50 films in history, unadjusted for inflation, have hit the billion-dollar mark. (CNN)
Hasbro is selling its film and TV arm, Entertainment One, to Lionsgate for $500M, providing the studio with access to a content library of nearly 7K titles. (THR)
German thriller "Paradise" is performing strongly in Europe and Latin America, ranking no.1 in Netflix's non-english category. (FlixPatrol)
Warner Bros. Discovery is working on bringing news and live sports content to its streaming offerings in the US. (WSJ)

Instagram is working on labels for content that has been created or edited with AI. (The Verge)
Meta could launch AI-powered “personas” as soon as next month, giving users a new way to search and get recommendations. (The Verge)
Meta released a toolset, AudioCraft, with a collection of models designed to generate audio and sound given text prompts. (Tech Crunch)
Uber's CEO said the company is working on its own AI chatbot, though no details were disclosed. (ZDNet)
"Every single one" of Amazon's teams is working on generative AI projects as the company rushes to keep pace with the AI boom. (Insider)

The world's second largest cinema chain operator, Cineworld, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy after nearly 11 months. (Reuters)
MGM revenue reached an all-time high of $3.9B in Q2, driven by a strong Macau rebound. (Yogonet)
Bally’s reported $606.2M in Q2 revenue, up 9.7% YoY, driven by record performance in its core casinos and resorts segment. (Yogonet)
A new stage musical adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel "The Notebook" will arrive on Broadway this spring. (Deadline)
“Spamalot," the Monty Python-inspired spoof of Arthurian legend, is returning to Broadway November 16th. (NYT)
Kylie Minogue announced her first-ever Las Vegas residency that will be opening up a new intimate 1,000-seat venue at the Venetian hotel called Voltaire. (Vulture)