AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• The field marketing team is playing a pivotal role in the hugely successful launch of Prime Video’s original series REACHER. Originally scoped as a 6-market in-person interview tour, the campaign evolved into virtual screenings and press days, plus Q&As allowing on-screen hero and star Alan Ritchson the opportunity to honor local veteran groups, active military, pandemic teachers and hospital workers. With season 2 greenlit just days after its February 4th premiere, Prime Video has activated an additional 20 markets for a major post-launch publicity push to add onto the $300k (and quickly growing) in earned media value and 6M+ in potential reach.

• Dying Light 2 is the first Techland title that Allied has worked on. Despite the shift of the game's release date and a total of five months before the final release date, the Partnerships team was able to broker four exciting partnership programs with major partners HyperX, HP Omen, BenQ and Slice, which included digital retail bundles and custom limited edition tech products.

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• US local papers find hints of success with online subscriptions: The numbers still pale in comparison with print’s heyday, but the increase is giving some publishers an unusual feeling: hope. (NY Times)

• More on print moving online: Entertainment Weekly, InStyle and other magazines owned by Barry Diller’s group will end print editions. Six titles owned by Dotdash Meredith will become digital-only publications as the company tries “embracing the inevitable digital future.” (NY Times)

• Buried in Meta's annual report filed last week for the US Securities and Exchange Commission, is a stark scenario in which it says it might have to entirely stop operating Instagram and Facebook in Europe. At issue are data regulations which prevent Meta from ingesting Europeans' data on American servers, which it says is crucial for its business both operationally and for ad targeting. (Mashable)

• The latest version of Hub Research's Video Redefined study has revealed huge age differences in viewing habits. Young Americans spend twice as much time on gaming, online videos, and social media as on TV. (Rapid TV News)

  

Awards / Festivals

• Oscar nominations were announced last week, and Netflix once again secured the most of any big media company. The top 5: Netflix (21), Disney/Searchlight (18), Warner Bros (16), Focus/Universal (7). (Bloomberg)
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Cinemas / Theatrical

• Village Roadshow sued Warner Bros. last week for breach of contract over the studio’s decision to release Matrix Resurrections simultaneously on HBO Max and in theaters. The lawsuit escalates growing hostility between those who stand to make millions through big theatrical releases, and media companies prioritizing streaming services growth. (THR)

• European film fans have begun, slowly, to return to cinemas according to figures released last week by European exhibitors’ UNIC association. Euro box office revenue in 2021 hit $4.24B, up 42% over 2020, with more than 590 million tickets sold across the region. The result, however, still lags well behind pre-pandemic levels. (THR)

• An array of movie, merchandising, gaming and live event rights to “Lord of the Rings,” “The Hobbit” and other titles from author J.R.R. Tolkien are coming up for auction. The timing of the sale process is not accidental. Amazon is set to premiere its long-awaited “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” series on Sept. 2 and is at the top of the list of prime candidates to pursue the additional rights now held by Zaentz. (Variety)

• Australian-produced films increased their box office despite the ongoing shift to streaming services, with 2021 domestic box office more than tripling to $71.5M as industry leaders forecast another big year in 2022 with the release of numerous movies including Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, which is due in June. Ticket sales for locally-produced films represented 11.8% of the total local box office share in a year plagued by lockdowns, particularly in NSW and Victoria which traditionally represent half the market. (Variety)

• The UK’s largest touring outdoor cinema is returning this year with a huge nationwide tour of open-air film screenings. Adventure Cinema will visit 20 National Trust sites, including six medieval castles, heritage properties and country estates, across the UK from April 2022. This year will mark the first time it will visit Scotland, with screenings to be held at Edinburgh’s Dalkeith Country Park. (NationalWorld)

Gambling / Casinos

• Las Vegas casinos moved swiftly after Gov. Steve Sisolak announced the immediate end of Nevada’s indoor mask mandate last week, taking down signs that had stood as a reminder to guests to keep their faces covered. The move to rescind the mandate could provide an immediate boost to tourism in the state, and it should help fuel the return of big conventions and international travel. (Las Vegas Review-Journal)

• The European Union (EU) is considering the implementation of a “European Digital Identity” (E-ID) for identification verification, which would facilitate the legalization of an electronic wallet. The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBC) says it would help to “prevent minors from accessing online gambling and to fight fraud and money laundering.” (Casino.org)

• UFC has expanded its partnership with Stake.com, the world’s largest cryptocurrency gaming and sportsbook. The new agreement builds upon the partnership UFC and Stake.com announced in 2021, in which Stake.com became UFC’s first-ever Official Betting Partner in Latin America (excluding Brazil) and Asia. Stake.com will receive a wide range of integrations into key UFC assets, a branded presence inside UFC’s Octagon® during select PPV and Fight Night events, and will be the presenting sponsor of UFC’s regularly scheduled PPV event hosted in Brazil. (UFC)

Live Events / Attractions

• Rolling Stone has acquired a majority stake in Las Vegas music festival Life Is Beautiful. While the fest will continue to take place each year in Vegas, Rolling Stone plans to bring it to new territories and expand the festival’s digital footprint. (News3LV)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• 19% of Spotify users said they've already canceled their service — or plan to — over the Rogan uproar, according to a Feb. 1 Forrester poll. The study also found 54% of those who use Spotify have no intention of canceling their subscription, while 18.5% said they'd considering canceling only if more artists they like pull their music from the platform. About 8.5% said they'd thought about canceling their subscription but that Spotify’s features were too important to them. (Variety)

NFT / Blockchain / Crypto

• Indie game store Itch.io has taken a firm and clear stance on NFTs. “NFTs are a scam,” the company tweeted last week. If you think they are legitimately useful for anything other than the exploitation of creators, financial scams, and the destruction of the planet [then] we ask that [you] please reevaluate your life choices.” Itch.io’s strong stance is notable at a time when many organizations are at least toying with the idea of integrating NFTs. (The Verge)

• LaProp, a PropTech and FinTech startup with a presence in both Latin America and Europe, just went out of stealth mode and opened its tokenized real estate investment platform to the public. In addition to its platform, the company launched a series of NFTs that allow access to the rent generated by a real apartment in Medellín. The platform is now live. The NFTs are available on OpenSea, the industry’s largest NFT marketplace. (Digital Journal)

• The Chainsmokers and The Kid LAROI are the first headliners to be announced for the First Annual Afterparty NFT Art and Music Festival. On March 18 and 19, NFT art, music and a creator-led Web3 community will collide at AREA15 in Las Vegas for the world’s first token-gated festival – NFTs are the “ticket” in. The festival is produced in partnership with former Life is Beautiful partner, Ryan Doherty, and former Kaaboo executive, Chris Racan. (Bakersfield.com)

• Australia’s largest online art gallery, Bluethumb, is bringing NFTs to a larger audience with curated collections of digital fine art. Bluethumb Digital, a new curated NFT marketplace showcasing top Australian digital artists, launches this month with their Genesis Drop featuring big names like Marble Mannequin – who has 4.2 million TikTok followers – along with other Bluethumb favourites. (NFT Culture)https://www.nftculture.com/nft-news/bluethumb-digital-launches-into-nfts/

OTT / Streaming

• Last year fuboTV tested the impact of only offering a quarterly plan, but reverted to monthly options after only a few days. This month, fuboTV has once again removed the monthly option on all plans on its website for new subscribers altogether. However, fuboTV has states it's a “test not a permanent change." (The Streamable)

• Disney+ added nearly 12M new subs in its fiscal Q1 2022. It now has 129.8M global subs, including 42.9M in the US and Canada, but 45.9M (35%) through Disney+ Hotstar, where ARPU is just $1.03. ARPU in the U.S. and Canada grew to $6.68 per month, from $5.80 a year ago. (Disney)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, two prominent budget carriers, have announced plans to merge, a combination which would create the 5th-largest U.S. airline by market share. The airlines, which offer 1,000 daily flights serving destinations in the US, Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement the merger would save consumers $1B annually, and that the airlines would not lay off employees because of it. (NY Times)

• 39% of adults said they feel OK going to a concert, 3 points higher than the share who said the same last week. Comfort visiting an amusement park also increased 5 points to 46%. (Morning Consult)

  

• 61% of Americans said they're comfortable going on vacation, up 2 points WoW and the highest since a Nov. 21 survey. As the omicron variant starts to wane, 42% of Americans say they're comfortable flying domestically, up 2 points WoW and back to mid-December levels. Comfort with staying at boutique hotels climbed 3 points to 51%, while comfort staying at major hotel chains increased 4 points to 59%. (Morning Consult)

• The coach passenger is king — perhaps for the first time ever. As the pandemic wanes, major carriers that traditionally make most of their money off premium business travel have shifted their attention to luring vacationers. (Axios)

• After almost two years, Australia will reopen its international borders and welcome back fully vaccinated tourists from February 21. Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement last Monday just hours after the government’s national security committee was briefed on the latest health advice. While the international borders have been opened since late 2021, entry has only been allowed for citizens, permanent residents and their families, with it later expanded to international students, backpackers and migrant workers. (7news.com.au)

Social Media

• Twitter's experimental popup encouraging users to reconsider potentially offensive content results in users changing or deleting their replies over 30% of the time. Twitter is now expanding the prompt to other territories/languages, beginning with Brazil/Portuguese. (Twitter)

• As ABC News, ESPN, Daily Mail, and other outlets amass over 1M TikTok followers, some suggest the surge is similar to the explosive growth on Facebook in 2015. (Axios)

• 83% of Australians are now on social media, up 4.6% year-on-year, and are also devoting 10% more of their time to it. While Facebook continues to be the most popular app, Aussies are spending longer on TikTok, at an average of 23.4 hours per person, per month (40% increase), compared to 17.6 hours (3% decline) on Facebook and 8.3 hours (2% increase) on Instagram. (B&T)

Video Games

• Wordle, the extremely popular online puzzle, is now officially being run by The New York Times after its creator sold it a few weeks ago. It lives at a new URL, https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html, but before you head there for your daily fix, know there are currently issues with how player stats (including streaks, win percentages, and guess distribution) are being transferred from the old version to the new. (The Verge)

• Sony began rolling out its second PS5 software beta last week, with changes including party chat updates, new UI settings, and a preview of a voice command feature. According to Sony’s blog about the beta, your PS5 can listen for the “Hey PlayStation!” voice command to let you find and open games, apps, and settings as well as control playback during a show or a song. The feature will be available first in English for beta users with accounts registered in the US and the UK. (The Verge)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Ahead of the Super Bowl, Nike is encouraging its members to get up and active through a special initiative. The Swoosh family linked up with EA Sports Madden NFL 22 to launch a Run Club challenge. Players have to run 5 miles IRL to unlock an in-game reward: an exclusive Aaron Donald Ultimate Team player item as well as an achievement badge. (Hypebeast)

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.