AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• Our partnerships team joined up with Prime Video and Sony on behalf of Tencent America to bring "PUBG MOBILE" players exclusive content from the Emmy-nominated subversive superhero series, "The Boys."

  As part of the collaboration, players can grab exclusive collaboration items, including the iconic super suits of Homelander, Starlight and Soldier Boy, as well as weapon skins, backpacks, a unique Supes parachute, and more. Starting this past Sunday, players can also participate in a “Supe Spree” in-game event, where they join "The Boys" infamous antihero, Billy Butcher, to build their own investigation. To complete each challenge, players work with characters from "The Boys" or their in-game friends to expose the truth behind a series of unsolved murders. The integration features a series of weekly challenges, providing players with opportunities to earn additional perks and rewards.

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• Go Addressable has released a set of recommended industry guidelines spanning creative format, creative length and data matching. The goal of the guidelines is to assist agencies in planning and establishing realistic launch schedules for campaigns that include addressable. (Media Post)

• In 2021, Latin America saw ad spend of $14.2B. Though an increase of 34.5% compared to 2020, it's still slightly below 2019 spend. (Dataxis)

  

• Shutterstock announced the acquisition of Splash News, which will see 27M videos and images added to the Shutterstock archive. (PetaPixel)

• APAC social media ad spend is up 8% YoY. However, actions are down, with click through rates decreasing by 4.5% QoQ and 5.8% YoY. (Mumbrella)

• CTV is expected to claim 68% of 2022 US digital upfront ad spend, growing 34.6% YoY to $6.41B. (Media Post)

Awards / Festivals

• The Emmys are eliminating the hanging episode rule. Beginning next year, only episodes that premiere on a platform by May 31 will be eligible for nomination. (THR)

• Tribeca Festival has signed crypto trading desk OKX as its new top sponsor. Beyond the festival itself, OKX will provide year-round support for Tribeca programming around the US and abroad. (WSJ)

• Ruben Östlund won his second Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival for his film “Triangle of Sadness.” Best Director went to Park Chan-wook for “Decision to Leave,” and Song Kang Ho won Best Actor for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “Broker.” (IndieWire)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• The Cinemark Movie Club has surpassed 1M active members with more than 3K members per theater across the US. (Deadline)

• "Top Gun: Maverick" had the best Memorial Day weekend opening of all time, bringing in $156M at the US box office. About 55% of moviegoers were over the age of 35. (CNBC)

• Tesla is planning to build a diner and drive-in movie theater / electric vehicle charging station. The movies will be features lasting approximately 30 minutes, the amount of time it takes to charge a vehicle. (Fox)

Gambling / Casinos

• Sports betting will officially launch in Ohio on Jan. 1, 2023. By launching at the start of the year, Ohio will miss out on nearly all of the upcoming NFL season. (Casino.org)

• Macau, the world's largest gambling hub, is facing plunging revenues in the midst of China's COVID crackdown. May gambling revenues, though up 25% from April, are down 68% YoY. (Reuters)

• Bally's $1.7B Chicago Casino is approved to move forward with construction. The resort is planned for the former Tribune Publishing plant and is expected to open in 2026. (NBC)

Live Events / Attractions

• Broadway extended its mask mandate for audience members through June 30th following a high level of community spread of COVID-19. (THR)

• Prime Video is hosting a two day pop-up for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel from June 18th-19th in Los Angeles. “Making LA Marvelous” will feature sets inspired by the recent fourth season of the series. (Variety)

• To promote the new season of Stranger Things, Netflix launched an outdoor campaign in London that held clues to the hidden location of the Upside Down. Fans who had cracked the clues lined up at the “portal”—a large door that looked as if a Demogorgon had broken through it. (AdWeek)

  

• Broadway's Girl From The North Country announced that the production was digitally captured prior to its re-opening for future use. Girl From The North Country also extended its limited run by one week, now playing through June 19th. (Broadway News)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Spotify is expanding its Blend playlists feature to include K-pop artists. Blend playlists allow users to create shared playlists based on each user’s listening preferences. Users can “blend” with up to 10 people or with musical artists. (The Verge)

• Conan O’Brien has sold his podcast and digital media business, Team Coco, to SiriusXM. O’Brien also signed a five-year talent deal with SiriusXM and will produce a comedy channel for the network. (Billboard)

• Quentin Tarantino is getting his own film podcast on Stitcher. In The Video Archives Podcast, Tarantino and Pulp Fiction co-writer Roger Avery will explore the movies that influenced their careers. (Engadget)

• American Girl has launched the American Girl Podcast Network to produce a variety of family-friendly podcasts rooted in the brand's character product line. The network will initially consist of three original shows. (Marketing Dive)

NFT / Blockchain / Crypto

• Warner Bros. is working with the NFT platform Nifty’s to release an NFT collection called “Looney Tunes: What’s Up Block?” which will go on sale later this summer. (THR)

• About 3 in 5 tech workers said they would be interested in using VR headsets for training and professional development, while more than half said they would use digital avatars in virtual meetings. (Morning Consult)

  

• Gucci has opened a digital space in Roblox called Gucci Town. The space includes Mini Game Heights, a Creative Corner for creating art pieces, an exhibition space called Vault Plaza, a shop that sells digital Gucci items, and a Power-up Place where community members can meet and interact. (Retail Dive)

• Prada is releasing a Timecapsule NFT Collection, and holders will be able to access exclusive benefits and future product releases. It's also launching Prada Crypted, a community server on Discord where Prada fans can discuss fashion, art, film, music and Web3. (Retail Dive)

• Actor and Robot Chicken creator Seth Green announced that his crypto wallet was compromised resulting in the loss of a number NFTs, including a Bored Ape he planned on using to create a new animated series. (Mashable)

• After a 4+ hour outage, the Solana blockchain is back up and running. The value of the Solana token has tumbled due to recent outages, falling as much as 4.8% to $38.67 and underperforming most other major tokens. (Bloomberg)

OTT / Streaming

• Netflix could boost its US revenue by 21% annually, or $2.5B per year, by selling advertisements for a new ad-supported version of its service. (Media Post)

• In July, the NFL will release a service called NFL+ that will provide in-market live streams of games on mobile devices for $5 a month. (Deadline)

• Netflix will not serve ads mid-content and will instead serve commercials before and after content. It's also planning to serve fewer ads than competitors like Hulu and HBO Max. (Streamable)

• Most US consumers prefer to watch at least two episodes a day of a series that’s released all at once, while 14% prefer to watch all episodes in a single day. (Morning Consult)

  

• In March, the number of Original and Exclusive titles in Netflix’s US catalogue accounted for more than 50% of all available content for the first time. There are now over 3.7K Original-branded movies and TV seasons within the Netflix US library. (Ampere)

  

• YouTube TV now streams local Weather Channel updates. Using their YouTube TV account, subscribers that log in to the Weather Channel app have access to local forecasts in addition to its standard offerings. (Streamable)

• The fourth season of "Stranger Things" broke Netflix's record for an English-language series' debut with viewers logging 287M hours of viewing time globally. (Variety)

• STARZ streaming service added 4.3M subscribers in Q1, bringing total subscribers to 24.5M worldwide. (Streamable)

• FuboTV has launched a new “Ultimate” Plan for $99.99/month to select new subscribers. The plan includes everything in the $69.99/month Pro Plan as well as Fubo Extra, News Plus, Sports Plus and Showtime. (Streamable)

• Netflix’s test to crack down on password sharing has left users confused. Most users in Peru weren’t formally made aware of the policy change through an email or notification sent by Netflix, even two months after Netflix's initial announcement. (The Verge)

• Indian audiences are increasingly relying on language support (subtitling and dubbing) to comprehend streaming content. The average paid streaming viewer in India watches content produced in 4.6 languages, only 50% of which they understand. (Ormax)

• Streaming soccer in Australia is getting more expensive. Optus Sport’s (English Premier League) monthly cost has jumped by A$10/month to A$24.99/month. (Mumbrella)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Hotels are converting room nights for sale into NFTs that can be bought or sold by hotel guests, similar to the StubHub market for concert and sporting event tickets. Owners say this ensures they get paid for the rooms while appealing to the crypto-enthusiastic traveler. (WSJ)

• Nearly 75% of Americans are ready to travel again, but due to inflation and rising gas prices, many are changing their travel plans. About 22% have decreased their vacation budgets and 21% are decreasing the number of vacations they take this year. (US News)

• Global flight bookings for leisure travel were 25% above pre-pandemic levels in April, and business flight bookings exceeded 2019 levels for the first time since the start of the pandemic. (CNBC)

Social Media

• TikTok launched TikTok LIVE subscriptions, a new program that allows creators to generate recurring revenue via payments from their top fans. (Tech Crunch)

• TikTok is launching a subscription comedy series that will stream exclusively on its live video platform. The eight-episode series, starring the creator Jericho Mencke, will cost users $4.99 to watch. (THR)

• Instagram rolled out an Amber Alert feature to notify users of missing children in their area. The alerts will include details about the missing child, such as a photo, description and location of the suspected abduction. (CNN)

• Hootsuite announced it has joined TikTok’s Marketing Partner Program. Hootsuite users can now schedule and publish TikTok content and view post performance directly within the Hootsuite platform. (Media Post)

• Twitter is rolling out a new feature called Super Followers, offering creators a way to connect with followers through live audio. (Social Media Today)

Video Games

• Xbox recently launched a dedicated channel on Twitch featuring American Sign Language interpretations, strategies and tips to help the community of Deaf and hard-of-hearing gamers actively participate in streams. (THR)

• Epic Games has announced plans to host an in-person Fortnite competition in November, its first major in-person competitive Fortnite event since the Fortnite World Cup in 2019. (The Verge)

• A coalition of child advocacy groups want the Federal Trade Commission to investigate EA, warning that its popular FIFA video game is harmful to children. They claim the game's use of loot boxes (boxes containing randomized virtual content, which can be bought with real money) exploits children by promising a competitive advantage and obscures the real cost with virtual currency. (Axios)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Corona kicked off its “From the Natural World” campaign by erecting a bright billboard in Brighton, England with accompanying foliage that, when the sun hits, creates a shadow in the shape of its bottle. (AdWeek)

  

• Sydney’s annual festival of light, music and ideas included a 600 drone display from Paramount+, showcasing their IP in front of the iconic harbour bridge. (MediaWeek)

  

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.