AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• Our experiential team recently helped produce OPS Live 2022, Amazon’s themed event for 1,300 internal operation leaders. They designed and built the conference’s centerpiece and hero moment, created an interactive kinetic wall and designed a Nashville-themed cowboy lasso challenge to entertain guests on the convention floor. Once inside Nashville’s Music City Center, attendees immediately engaged with the interactive wall, which they controlled by pushing a trigger button activating a variety of lighting sequences. The wall also doubled as the event’s official photo backdrop. The lasso activation challenged attendees to lasso an Amazon Smile version of a mechanical bull after receiving pointers from a world-acclaimed lasso expert. Overall the event was a great success with rave reviews for Allied coming from both attendees and senior level clients and VIPs.

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• Meta is developing “basic ads” with little or no data targeting. The ads will be more in line with privacy guidelines set by Europe and US states with privacy regulations. (Media Post)

• Out of home ad revenue increased 41% YoY in Q1 2022, jumping to $1.8B. Digital OOH led total OOH growth with a 57% increase YoY. (DST)

• Discovery unveiled two new streaming ad products, Click-to-Contact and Viewer's Choice, which will be available in Q4. Click-to-Contact lets viewers click on an ad to instantly receive a marketing email from the advertiser while Viewer’s Choice allows viewers to mark their preferences for certain ads and products. (FierceVideo)

• Apple will soon release iOS 16, complete with updated privacy features. The update lets users easily see which apps are receiving data about their geographic location. (Marketing Dive)

• Comcast Advertising recommends 20-30% of premium video ad budgets be allocated to streaming and the rest to traditional TV. (MediaPost)

Awards / Festivals

• Spider-Man: No Way Home won best movie at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, and Tom Holland took home the prize for best movie performance. (Deadline)

• Tony Awards attendees will not be required to wear masks during the ceremony but will need to be tested for COVID-19 before attending. (THR)

• Over 2M people tuned in to the MTV Movie & TV Awards this year, a 47% increase from 2021 when 1.7M people tuned in. (Yahoo)

• The Grammys has introduced new categories including Songwriter of the Year, Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, Best Alternative Music Performance, and Best Americana Music Performance. (THR)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• Russian cinemas, without movies from Hollywood, are screening pirated titles across the country. A movie theater in Vladivostok screened “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and “The Batman” under different Russian-language titles to avoid detection. (Variety)

• Regal has announced the return of its 2022 Regal Summer Movie Express series, where tickets to see children’s movies are just $2 on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. (PR Newswire)

• Q1 2022 has been the best-performing quarter for cinema in India ever, grossing ₹4,002 Cr ($514M), despite a third wave of Covid in January and 18% fewer cinemas operating than pre-pandemic. (Ormax)

Gambling / Casinos

• The most popular forms of gambling in the UK are sports betting and online gaming, accounting for 39% each. Sports betting seems to get more popular with age, with 31% of 18-30-year-olds betting compared to 53% of those 60+. (Gambling Insider)

• About 65% of UK gamblers don't agree with government restrictions like spending limits, claiming harsh restrictions will push them towards unregulated black market operators. (Gambling News)

• Budweiser has teamed up with Zed Run to launch Budweiser NFT passes as well as a Budweiser-themed race track, prize pools for Bud-sponsored virtual horse races starting at $45K, and three tiers of airdropped Clydesdale NFT skins that are usable in Zed Run. (Coin Telegraph)

• Lucky Crypto has launched the first metaverse-based NFT slot machine. Players have a chance to win a Lucky Degen NFT from the slot machines found in the Lucky Degens Embassy within Decentraland. (Casino.org)

Live Events / Attractions

• Broadway saw a dip at the box office last week, dropping 11% WoW to $29.6M for 31 productions. Attendance was down about 10% to 231K. (Deadline)

• Prince: The Immersive Experience has opened in Chicago. Visitors to the exhibit can hone their producing skills in a replica studio A and create "Purple Rain" album cover moment. (NBC)

• The lineup for the music portion of Tribeca Festival includes Taylor Swift, who will also talk about her “All Too Well” short film, Pharrell Williams, Steve Aoki and Common. (Variety)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Spotify beat Netflix in a ranking of "Must Have" services in the American home with 75% of respondents in ranking Spotify as a “must have” service vs. 68% for Netflix. (NextTV)

• Spotify has launched call-to-action cards, allowing marketers to reach their target audiences through a series of clickable display ads. The CTA cards will appear in the app as eye-catching visuals with customizable text. (Mediaweek)

• Spotify brought in about $215M in podcast revenue last year and expects podcasts to be a "$20B opportunity." (THR)

• Spotify wants to make audiobooks the next pillar of its business. The company pitched the audiobooks business to investors as their next target for industry domination last week. (The Verge)

• Spotify has the lowest churn in the music subscription industry. (Antenna)

  

NFT / Blockchain / Crypto

• Puma revealed a new sports-based experience within Roblox called Puma and the Land of Games where players can unlock new zones and gain access to virtual Puma sportswear. (Fashion United)

• eBay is launching its first collection of 13 NFTs in partnership with OneOf. Each NFT contains a 3D animated rendering of hockey player Wayne Gretzky making one of his signature moves on the ice. (CNBC)

• Niantic, the company behind Pokemon Go, is releasing a location-based social network called Campfire, which allows the user to see friends locations and nearby experiences. (The Verge)

• Countries in South America and the Asia-Pacific region have particularly high rates of cryptocurrency usage, while Nigeria currently has the highest rate at 55%. (Morning Consult)

  

• Australians lost more than $163M to crypto scams from January to May 2022, a 166% increase YoY. (Gambling News)

• State Farm and iHeartMedia have partnered to launch iHeartLand on Roblox this summer. Users can expect performances, new music drops, interactive podcasts, exclusive collectible merch and special access to VIP experiences. (iHeartMedia)

• Jack Dorsey is teaming up with Jay-Z to launch The Bitcoin Academy at Marcy Houses, the public housing complex in Brooklyn, NY where Jay-Z grew up. The Bitcoin Academy will provide financial education with an emphasis on Bitcoin as a path to financial freedom. (Tech Crunch)

OTT / Streaming

• Nearly 2 in 5 adults (39%) would be interested in signing up for a $10/mo ad-supported streaming tier from a service that previously offered only a $15.50/mo tier without ads (the current cost of a Netflix subscription). (Morning Consult)

  

• FuboTV has brought back its free trial just seven days after removing it. The free trial is now being advertised again for both the Pro and Elite packages. (Streamable)

• HBO Max is no longer available with AT&T premium wireless plans. It's unclear if subscribers who previously benefited will be able to keep their subscription. (Streamable)

• 64% of Gen Z adults are interested in products that reference original series and movies from SVODS such as Netflix, HBO Max and Hulu. (Morning Consult)

  

• Roku is launching “Espacio Latino,” a new destination for US Hispanic audiences. It will offer a wide collection of programming geared at Spanish speakers on ad-supported The Roku Channel. (Media Play News)

• Disney+ launched in 16 new markets across the Middle East and North Africa. The MENA offering also features the Star hub, an extra listing of shows and movies adding more general entertainment programming. (Streamable)

• Disney is offering a 25% discount on Disney+ for military personnel, their families, and honorably discharged veterans. The offer is a partnership between Disney and ShopMyExchange.com. (Streamable)

• Employees at Roku have been discussing the possibility of a Netflix acquisition in recent weeks. The buzz comes as Netflix looks to get into the advertising business. (Business Insider)

• Peacock saw subscriber growth of 44% QoQ thanks to two major Q1 events: The Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics. (NScreenMedia)

  

• Peacock is introducing two new ad formats: frame ads, which cause the TV picture to shrink and move to the upper left, allowing the L-shaped frame to the lower right to be used for advertising, and in-scene ads, which allow an advertiser to take over an object in a show or movie scene. (NScreenMedia)

• Bidding is commencing on the Indian Premier League cricket streaming rights for the next 5 years. The rights to IPL have been a key pillar in Disney’s goal of reaching 230M Disney+ subscribers by 2024. (THR)

• Spanish-language kids’ network El Reino Infantil is coming to ViX. The children’s programming will be available in the United States and most Latin American countries on a dedicated channel and on-demand. (TTVNews)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Mobile commerce will nearly double its share of total US retail sales from 5.5% in 2020 to more than 10% by 2025. (Marketing Dive)

• Amazon opened its first brick-and-mortar clothing store, Amazon Style, in L.A. at The Americana at Brand mall. It does not feature Amazon's Just Walk Out technology. (The Verge)

• Apple may soon switch from Lightning ports to USB-C. The European Parliament has agreed on a proposal that would require tech companies to include USB-C charging ports on all “small and medium-sized portable electronic devices.” (Mashable)

Social Media

• Reddit partnered with Netflix to release custom avatars inspired by Stranger Things characters ahead of the fourth season. The limited-time avatars will be available until August. (TechCrunch)

• Snapchat is rolling out a new “Shared Stories” feature designed to make it easier for users to collaborate and share memories. Unlike regular friend Stories and Groups, there isn’t a chat component for Shared Stories. (Tech Crunch)

• TikTok is releasing new Bitmoji-like Avatars feature that lets users record videos as an animated version of themselves. Users can also give a new voice to their avatar using Avatar Voice Effects. (Tech Crunch)

• Instagram announced an expansion of its Sensitive Content Control options. Users can now manage the content that they see in all sections of the app, not just the Explore section. (SocialMediaToday)

• Instagram now lets users pin up to three posts or reels to their profile. Just like pinned posts on TikTok and Twitter, they'll appear at top of user's profile grid. (The Verge)

• Twitter began a pilot program that alerts consumers about upcoming product drops. The new feature gives brands a way to grab consumers' attention and build excitement for limited-edition merchandise. (Marketing Dive)

• TikTok has added new tools to help users track and manage the time they spend in the app including break reminders and a new dashboard for monitoring screen time. (Social Media Today)

Video Games

• Netflix has launched four mobile games: Exploding Kittens, Dragon Up, Moonlighter, and Townsmen. Since launching the games initiative in November 2021, Netflix has acquired three studios. (Reuters)

• The move from console gaming to cloud-based gaming could boost broadband usage of gamers by 6x. That development could both put pressure on existing broadband networks and create new opportunities for operators to sell them higher bandwidth plans. (TVTechnology)

• Microsoft confirmed it's working on a Chromecast-like game streaming stick for its Xbox Cloud Gaming service called Keystone that could be connected to any TV or monitor without the need for a console. (Engadget)

• Pokémon Go has surpassed $6B in global lifetime player spending from the App Store and Google Play. In Q1 2022, it ranked as the 11th top grossing mobile game worldwide. (VentureBeat)

• By July, Samsung smart TVs will offer another way to stream Xbox games without owning a console. Xbox Cloud Gaming will be available on Samsung's 2022 smart TVs through an app. (Tech Spot)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Burger King recently got slammed for its Pride campaign in Austria in which it advertised two buns of the same kind supporting a Whopper. Many accused the company of being performative and questioned the company on its true intentions. (Entrepreneur)

  

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.