INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• UK ad spend is expected to grow by 9.2% this year to £34.9B, with cinema ad spend up 174% YoY. (Performance Marketing World)

  

• Uber will sell ad space inside Uber and UberEats apps, along with in-vehicle digital ads, sponsored mails and storefront ads. (Reuters)

• Google is upgrading the design of search ads with new visual elements that emphasize business names and logos. (Search Engine Journal)

• Adobe is replacing old Pantone spot colors with black when users load files using them due to changes in Pantone's licensing. (BB)

• Facebook’s algorithm delivers ads differently based on who is pictured in the ad, skewing ad delivery along largely demographic lines. (Northeastern)

Awards / Festivals

• Tár leads the Gotham Awards film nominees with five nods, followed by Aftersun with four nominations. (THR)

• Top Gun: Maverick and Hocus Pocus 2 were among the movie nominees for the 2022 People's Choice Awards, while Abbott Elementary and Euphoria scored in the TV categories. (THR)

• Adam Sandler will receive a performer tribute at the 2022 Gotham Awards. (Deadline)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• Warner Bros' Black Adam opened with $67M in the US and $73M internationally for a $140M global haul. (AP)

• In the US, 1 in 3 Gen Z adults have seen a horror movie in theaters in the past month, compared to 12% of all adults. (Morning Consult)

  

• Terrifier 2 's box office jumped 84% WoW amid rumors of audiences passing out, bringing its US total to about $5.3M. (Yahoo)

Gambling / Casinos

• Apple paused gambling ads in App Store pages in response to developers' complaints. (Yogonet)

• A social betting platform called Wolfden launched in Australia. It combines betting, social media and news, all in one place. (Gambling News)

• Evolution posted a 37% revenue jump in Q3 driven by increased Live Casino demand and growth in all regions. (Yogonet)

Live Events / Attractions

• Netflix opened an immersive store in LA where shoppers can take photos alongside props from its most popular shows including Stranger Things and Squid Game. (Reuters)

• A new campaign is calling on US federal regulators to break up Ticketmaster and Live Nation, arguing that the combined company abuses its market power. (Ticket News)

• Life of Pi is coming to Broadway. It will begin preview performances in March 2023. (NYT)

• Next year, Disney will host a series of experiences, exhibitions, and music events across EMEA to celebrate its 100th anniversary. (THR)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Apple raised the price of Apple Music by $1 to $10.99/mo for individuals, making it more expensive than Spotify or Amazon Music. (Bloomberg)

• Taylor Swift beat the Spotify record for most streams of an album in a single day with her album Midnights. (Deadline)

• Spotify hit 195M paid subscribers in Q3, up from 188M in Q2 and above the expected 194M. (THR)

• Though its Q3 revenue increased 21% YoY, Spotify's gross margins dropped to 25% due to softness in the ad market. (Reuters)

Crypto / NFT / Metaverse

• Claire's partnered with Roblox to launch Metaverse City, its first metaverse activation, to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha. (AdAge)

• L'Oréal has partnered with Meta to launch Metaverse Startup Accelerator. The 6-month program will take place next year with 5 France-based Web3 companies. (AdWeek)

• Hong Kong will legalize retail crypto trading as part of its effort to become a hub for digital assets. (Bloomberg)

OTT / Streaming

• Disney and Formula 1 have reached a deal that will bring F1 races to ESPN+ through the 2025 season. (THR)

• Apple increased the cost of Apple TV+ by $2 to $6.99/mo, citing rising licensing costs. (Bloomberg)

• Streaming accounts for 37% of all TV viewing in the US, and Americans spend more time watching YouTube than Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max combined. (Bloomberg)

  

• Warner Bros. Discovery will spend $1B-$1.5B as part of a mass restructuring. It will lay some employees off, pay others to stick around, shut down some locations and get out of contracts. (Warner Bros)

• Peacock's US paid subscribers surpassed 15M as of the end of September. (THR)

• YouTube released three new ad options, including Moment Blast and new audio ad options. (Social Media Today)

• Vidio has become Indonesia’s fastest growing streaming service thanks to its focus on local content. (Rest of World)

• Australia’s Foxtel announced its entertainment SVOD, Binge, will get an ad-supported tier in early 2023, though the price has yet to be revealed. (AdNews)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• About 40% of US adults plan to travel between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and 53% of US holiday travelers making reservations will make them by the end of October. (Bankrate)

• Amazon will start accepting Venmo as a payment method for US customers ahead of Black Friday. (Retail Dive)

• Over 70% of shoppers worldwide are considering holiday financing, and about 60% are spending less this year due to the state of the economy. (Retail Dive)

Social Media

• A third of US adults now get their news from TikTok, while over half get their news from Twitter. (Quartz)

  

• WhatsApp experienced an outage that affected users around the world. Though the app is back online, Meta did not give a reason for the outage. (BBC)

• Instagram is testing out a new feature that lets users add a song to their profile, reminiscent of MySpace. (Social Media Today)

• Twitter will let users buy, sell, and display NFTs directly through tweets in partnership with four marketplaces. (DeCrypt)

Video Games

• TikTok is launching a dedicated gaming channel featuring a variety of mobile games with ads and additional content that users can purchase. (Digital Trends)

• Microsoft's Game Pass now accounts for 15% of its gaming revenue. The number of PC Game Pass subscribers has grown by 159% YoY. (Engadget)

• VR gaming startup ForeVR Games raised $10M to grow its library of Wii Sports-like titles. (Tech Crunch)

Live Sports

• The NHL introduced digital ads that are projected along the boards for fans watching game broadcasts. (Sporting News)

• A majority of US LIV golf fans haven’t watched any of the series’ prior 2022 tournaments, and they’re more interested in watching the PGA Tour than LIV. (Morning Consult)

  

• The NHL partnered with Supponor to develop ads that are sold like commercials, with brands buying 30-second increments based on the game clock. (Sporting News)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Gillette hosted the NFL’s first live broadcast mixed-reality commercial to promote its new GilletteLabs with Exfoliating Bar product. Gillette Stadium became GilletteLabs Stadium and the new razor was built in front of viewers. (Marketing Dive)

  

AND NOW THE GOOD STUFF

• The UK government published its national AI strategy, which outlines its long-term vision for the technology and its impact on society.

• Rodney Brooks, the creator of the Roomba, throws cold water on the idea that AI will surpass human intelligence in the near future.

• A unique look behind the curtain at how one VC fund increased returns.

• How Peloton uses design and gamification to keep people on the exercise platform.

• If you think gentrification is about new coffee shops and high rents, you are missing an essential aesthetic element.

• Watch out for the Trisolarians! Scientists might have found the first-known planet orbiting three stars at once.