INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• US linear and CTV ad spend will continue to grow throughout 2022 despite challenging economic factors, reaching $79.85B this year and $87.24B in 2023. (eMarketer)

  

• Amazon is launching a service called Store Analytics, offering physical retail brands insights about the performance of their products, promotions and ad campaigns. (Tech Crunch)

• The YouTube BrandConnect program will now offer short and long-form video options, providing advertisers with dynamic ways to tap into both. (Media Post)

Awards / Festivals

• At the BET Awards, R&B duo Silk Sonic took home the most combined wins with three. The honoree of the night was Lifetime Achievement Award winner Sean “Diddy” Combs. (Variety)

• Netflix's sequel to Knives Out, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, will have its world premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. (Variety)

• Stephen Curry is hosting this years ESPY Awards. NFL stars Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers, the NBA’s Stephen Curry, Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky and Olympic gymnast Sunisa Lee are among the nominees. (THR)

• This year’s BET Awards saw a 34% boost in viewership from 2021, drawing in 3.2M viewers. (Variety)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• 63% of US adults feel comfortable going to a movie theater, a new high since the start of the pandemic. (Morning Consult)

  

• Elvis beat Top Gun: Maverick by $1M at the box office last weekend. Elvis generated $31.1M in its box office debut while Top Gun: Maverick brought in $29.6M in its fifth weekend in theaters. (Variety)

• AMC Theaters' global admissions revenues from June 9th-12th were 15% higher than the same period in 2019. More than 4.9M guests watched a movie at an AMC location that Thursday-Sunday. (Market Watch)

Gambling / Casinos

• 49% of US online gamblers would deposit more funds and withdrawal more often if there were better withdrawal options, and an additional 8% would deposit more funds and withdrawal less often. (Gambling Insider)

  

• The UK govt. is considering a ban on free bets and a restriction on VIP packages. It may also introduce a maximum stake of between £2 to £5 in online casino gambling. (Casino.org)

• Spinomenal has partnered with Aplica Media to launch the first-ever NFT slots tournament. The first two ranking players in each of two competitions will win VIP cards based on NFTs. (Gambling News)

Live Events / Attractions

• US adults' comfort with going to live events and attractions has hit a new high since the start of the pandemic. 69% are comfortable going to a museum, while 60% feel comfortable going to an amusement park. (Morning Consult)

  

• More than 75K people gathered in Anaheim, CA for VidCon 2022. Over the span of four days, stars, industry leaders, and fans enjoyed talks, meet and greets, games, and live music performances. (Spotify)

• The fourth annual NFT.NYC drove thousands of Web3 enthusiasts to the city. NFT-themed billboards, wallscapes, and sculptures overtook Manhattan, and exclusive holder-only parties occupied several venues around the city. (The Drum)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Spotify is developing a new feature called Community that would let users see what sort of music their friends are streaming in real time as well as what playlists they’ve recently updated. (Tech Crunch)

• This year, US adults will consume almost two hours of digital audio per day, and digital audio will account for 12.7% of their overall time spent with media. (eMarketer)

  

• Spotify has spent more than $1B on podcasting over the last 4 years, yet podcasting only accounts for about 7% of listening hours and 2% of sales. (Bloomberg)

• Spotify has released a new feature that lets users perform karaoke on the app. At the end of the song, users receive a percentage score to tell them how well they did. (Yahoo)

NFT / Blockchain / Crypto

• Blockchain company Solana is making a phone called the Saga, which will have features integrated with the Solana blockchain so users can easily transact in web3 and manage digital assets. (Solana)

• Shopify is launching NFT-gated storefronts to help brands build community. Holders connect their crypto wallet to unlock exclusive shopping experiences and early access to drops. (Decrypt)

• American Eagle Outfitters launched its NFT Apparel Shop featuring eight items with designs from NFT collections like Little Lemon Friends, Starcatchers, The Littles and WonderPals. (Retail Dive)

• As of mid-June, 19% of US adults own some form of crypto, and 14% own bitcoin, equal to January levels of ownership. (Morning Consult)

  

• Crypto start-up MoonPay is launching a new NFT platform called HyperMint. It will let brands mint hundreds of millions of NFTs a day, scaling up an operation that previously took months. (CNBC)

• Crypto exchange FTX is considering acquiring trading platform Robinhood. The news comes a month after Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO and founder of FTX, disclosed a 7.6% stake in Robinhood. (Yahoo)

OTT / Streaming

• HBO Max announced a new suite of advertising options including Pause Ads, Sequential Stories, and an expanded Brand Block Ad suite. The new formats are designed to make the viewing experience more enjoyable for customers. (Streamable)

• Apple TV+ has a higher ratio of its original shows in the outstanding and good category compared to Netflix and is about on par with HBO Max (not including HBO). (Yahoo)

  

• Uber Eats is offering two free months of the Disney Bundle to users who have placed at least one order in the past 90 days. The bundle includes Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu’s ad-supported plan. (Streamable)

• 13% of US households currently subscribe to Apple TV+ and 14% subscribe to Discovery+. Though the two services have very divergent content strategies, their domestic reach levels are virtually identical. (Morning Consult)

  

• MGM’s SVOD service is now available through Claro vídeo in LatAm for $59 pesos/mo. The subscription also comes with a 7 day free trial period. (ToDoTVNews)

• Netflix ranks last for customer satisfaction, with only 62% of subscribers being satisfied. However, it ranks first for must-have services, with 31% of subscribers claiming they'd keep the service if they could only have one video subscription. (Variety)

  

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Airbnb's ban on parties, which was temporarily instated in 2020, is now permanent. The ban prohibits “all disruptive parties and events,” with a focus on open-invite gatherings advertised on social media. (The Verge)

• Of the past seven years, 2022 has had the highest percentage of delayed flights (19%) and the highest percentage of canceled flights (4%) — excluding 2020. (Business Insider)

  

• 22% of US Gen Z identifies as LGBTQIA+, while 10% of Millennials and 7% of Gen X identify as LGBTQIA+. (GWI)

Social Media

• Snapchat has introduced Dynamic Travel Ads, allowing brands to deliver hotel, airline and experience catalogs to in-market travel users. Snapchat users are 37% more likely to book a vacation after seeing an ad. (Snapchat)

• Twitter launched its Branded Likes ad option, which lets brands create custom Like animations for their tweets to help improve engagement in the app. (Social Media Today)

• Vizio smart TV users can now download the TikTok app. Vizio owners can browse TikTok’s Discover feed or link an account to watch video content from the For You and Following feeds. (The Verge)

• Spanish streamer Ibai Llanos Garatea has broken Twitch's viewership record, hitting 3.3M concurrent viewers during a boxing event he hosted on his channel. (The Verge)

• Google Hangouts is shutting down in November. People who still use the Hangouts mobile app will be prompted to move to Chat. (The Verge)

Video Games

• Epic Games has introduced a ratings system to its online store, and it’s designed to prevent review bombing. Only players who have played a game for 2+ hours will be asked at random to review it. (The Verge)

• Pokémon Go developer Niantic is laying off eight percent of its workforce, about 90 employees, due to “economic turmoil." It has also canceled four upcoming projects. (Engadget)

• Honda has launched its Hondaverse within Fortnite. The first iteration of the Hondaverse is the Honda Parkour World where players can test their abilities through virtual parkour runs and trivia questions. (Marketing Dive)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Paramount+ set up a series of consumer-led installations, pop-ups and activities around London's West End. The centerpiece of the takeover is the pop-up experience in Piccadilly Circus, where fans can get the chance to immerse themselves in the Halo show. (12ft)

  

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.