AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• After making its worldwide premiere at the 2021 Venice and Telluride Film Festivals, HALLELUJAH: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song made its way to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for a one-night-only exclusive screening and Q&A at the Museum’s famed Foster Theater. To support the film, our Cleveland Field team hosted co-directors Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, arranging media interviews and a private tour of the Rock Hall.

  

• For new Australian client, Secret Sounds, the Earned team engaged influencers to attend the Splendour in the Grass music festival and promote two brand sponsors, Pepsi Max and Byron Bay Cookies. With an expedited campaign launch window, we secured 5 partners who have delivered 22 posts, 134k potential reach, 51k views, and 6.2k engagements thus far.

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• Quantcast has laid off 6% of its staff globally, about 40 employees, citing a company restructure. (Digiday)

• Lyft has introduced Lyft Media, a unit dedicated to expanding its ad offerings. Beyond rooftop ads, Lyft will now allow brands to serve content on in-car tablets. (WSJ)

• Axios has sold itself to Cox Enterprises for $525M. The deal includes an investment in Axios' media arm to help it expand across its local, national and subscription news products. (Axios)

Awards / Festivals

• With five nods, Abbott Elementary was the most-nominated series at this year’s Television Critics Awards. However, the award for talk, variety and sketch shows, which went to Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson. (Variety)

• The New York Film Festival will feature The Inspection as its closing night screening. The film stars Jeremy Pope as a young man in the military during the “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” years. (THR)

• Nicki Minaj will receive MTV’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award and will also perform for the first time since 2018 at the 2022 VMAs. (Variety)

• Kenan Thompson will host the 2022 Emmy Awards, which will air September 12th live on NBC and stream on Peacock. (Variety)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• Top Gun: Maverick became the highest-grossing film ever at the US box office, passing Titanic and Jurassic Park. It's earned $662.5M in the US since its May release. (CNBC)

• Theatrical release dates for Warner Bros. movies on HBO Max will be determined on a movie-by-movie basis. Previously, the films became available to stream after 45 days in theaters. (Business Insider)

• AMC Theaters saw Q2 revenue of $1.14B but still reported a net loss of $121M. AMC’s increased spending comes largely from acquisitions of new theaters and implementation of COVID-19 protocols. (The Wrap)

• Canada-based Cineplex has turned its first profit since the pandemic started with Q2 revenue totaling $349.9M, an 81% increase YoY. It hosted 11.1M attendees in Q2, up 90% YoY. (THR)

Gambling / Casinos

• The VIP Casino at Crown Resorts’ integrated casino in Sydney has officially opened. The casino has two VIP rooms – the Crystal Room and Mahogany Room. (Gambling News)

• DraftKing's Q2 revenue reached $466M, a 57% increase YoY. The main driver of growth is its B2C sector, which grew 68% YoY, reaching revenue of $455M. (Gambling News)

• Major sports betting players, DraftKings and Caesar’s Entertainment, dramatically reduced ad spend in Q2. DraftKings Q2 ad spend increased 16% to 197.5M, down dramatically from a 270% increase in Q2 2021, while Caesar’s Entertainment reduced ad spend by $500M. (eMarketer)

• Jake Paul raised $50M to launch Betr, a D2C micro-betting sports betting platform that lets users bet on small, specific moments in games like football plays or baseball pitches. (Axios)

Live Events / Attractions

• Metallica, Mariah Carey and The Jonas Brothers will headline the Global Citizen Festival, a free concert in New York’s Central Park, on September 24th. (AP)

• Las Vegas Raiders home game tickets are the most expensive in the NFL. (Ticket IQ)

  

• Weezer's Broadway residency has been canceled due to “low ticket sales and unbelievably high expenses." SZNZ: In Residence on Broadway would have included five shows. (Deadline)

• The Kite Runner is the first Broadway show to require audiences to wear masks at certain performances. Its mask-only nights will take place on Fridays. (BBC)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Audible is looking to expand the number of TV and film adaptations of its podcasts and audiobooks and has hired Jackie Levine as Head of Television and Film to lead the effort. (Deadline)

• Spotify launched a new Home experience that includes two separate feeds for Music and Podcasts & Shows. (Tech Crunch)

• Spotify’s Soundtrap app for musicians has released new features including live collaboration and auto save and comments. (Tech Crunch)

• Spotify will sell fans tickets to live concerts directly from its platform instead of redirecting users to partners like Ticketmaster. Users must have a Spotify account to purchase tickets. (Tech Crunch)

NFT / Metaverse / Crypto

• Nvidia unveiled its Avatar Cloud Engine, a tool for building 3D models of humans that Nvidia hopes will be the way we interact with chat bots in the metaverse. (Cnet)

• Trading volumes at Coinbase more than halved YoY, falling to $217B in Q2. It expects trading volumes to fall further in Q3, citing the turmoil brought by the collapse of various crypto ventures. (Reuters)

• Non-Fungible Films will partner with comedy house National Lampoon to create NFTs based on Lampoon's IP. To celebrate the partnership, the studio is releasing free NFT art pieces for its Executive Producer pass holders. (HypeBeast)

• Paris Hilton's company, 11:11 media, will soon sell NFTs and hold virtual parties in The Sandbox. Hilton is planning events like rooftop parties and meet-and-greets in her virtual Malibu mansion. (CNBC)

OTT / Streaming

• YouTube is planning to launch an online store for streaming video services. The company hopes the new platform, which it's referring to internally as a “channel store” and which has been in the works for at least 18 months, could be available as early as this fall. (WSJ)

• In the US, FAST services account for four of the top 10 most widely used video streaming services. About a third of US adults use The Roku Channel and Tubi on a monthly basis. (Morning Consult)

  

• Disney+'s ad-supported tier, Disney+ Basic, will launch Dec. 8th in the US for $7.99/mo. That’s the price of the current ad-free version of Disney+, which will see a 38% increase to $10.99/mo. (Variety)

• The average number of streaming services US adults subscribe to has gone down 24% from 3.4 in 2020 and 2021 to 2.6 in 2022. (GWI)

• Since Q2 2020, the number of US adults who watch subtitled or dubbed foreign language shows has grown 18%. The number who watch Anime specifically has grown 30% during the same period. (GWI)

• Including Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, Disney now has 221M total subscribers, beating Netflix’s 220.7M subscribers. Disney+ added 14.4M subscribers during its third fiscal quarter, bringing total subs to 152.1M. (THR)

• The price of ESPN+ will increase by $3/mo in the US, raising from $6.99/mo and $69.99/yr to $9.99/mo and $99.99/yr beginning August 23rd. (THR)

• Existing Disney bundle subscribers for Disney+ (no ads), Hulu (with ads) and ESPN+ will see a slight price increase from $13.99/mo to $14.99/mo, but the bundle of Disney+ without ads, Hulu without ads and ESPN+ will remain the same price at $19.99/mo. (THR)

• The number of US adults who prefer streaming services where episodes are released weekly has grown 31% since Q2 2020. While binge watching is a solitary activity, many feel that following a TV show weekly can be a social activity. (GWI)

• Hulu is the most annoying service when it comes to commercials according to ad-supported subscribers, while HBO Max is the least annoying. Hulu's ad load is heavier than other AVODs, while HBO Max has a low ad load of 4 minutes per hour. (Whip Media)

  

• Prey had the highest viewership on Hulu to date of all film and TV series debuts. Disney did not share total hours viewed. (THR)

• Tubi saw a 34% increase in monthly active users QoQ, a 40% jump YoY. The streamer also saw a 45% increase in revenue YoY. (Streamable)

• HBO Max has very similar satisfaction levels among ad-free and ad-supported subscribers and has the highest level of satisfaction in general. Peacock has the largest discrepancy (8 pts) in satisfaction among ad-free and ad-supported subscribers. (Whip Media)

  

• The number who feel streaming subscriptions are getting too expensive has grown by 50% since Q2 2020, and 25% consider cancelling because of high prices. (GWI)

  

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Walmart is seeking a streaming partner to bolster Walmart+. A streaming integration could turn Walmart+ into a service like Amazon Prime, a destination for activities beyond shopping. (Retail Dive)

• Kohl's self-pickup is now available at its 1.1K+ US stores. Shoppers can select "In-Store Pickup" for eligible online orders, which are then ready for pickup within two hours. (Axios)

• eBay's gross merchandise volume, the value of all goods sold on the site, fell 18% in Q2 to $18.55B. It ended Q2 with 138M active buyers, a 12% decrease YoY. (Digital Commerce 360)

  

• Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire iRobot, the maker of Roomba vacuums. iRobot devices will join Amazon's Alexa, Ring doorbells, and other smart home technology in supporting Amazon's large amount of smart home data and will likely lead to more questions around privacy and Amazon’s control over the smart home market. (The Verge)

Social Media

• Meta is testing a new livestreaming platform for influencers called Super, which allows influencers to host livestreams, earn revenue and engage with viewers. (Tech Crunch)

• WhatsApp is adding new privacy options to give users more control over their experience, including screenshot blocking and a stealth mode. (Tech Crunch)

• Snapchat is introducing parental controls as part of its new Family Center, letting parents see who their children talk to without being able to view message content. Parents can also view their child's friend list and report potential abuse. (Tech Crunch)

• The number of TikTok accounts crossing 1M followers has been in decline over the past year. In July, 1.2K accounts hit 1M followers, a 41% drop YoY. (The Information)

  

• WhatsApp extended the time in which users can delete sent messages. Users now have up to two days and 12 hours (60 hours in total) after sending to delete. (Tech Crunch)

• About half of US teens are online almost constantly, compared to 24% in 2015. YouTube is the most popular platform, with 95% of teens using the site. (WSJ)

• Users will soon be able to schedule all kinds of Instagram posts from within the app itself. Users have been able to schedule feed posts since 2020, but now users can schedule Reels and Stories. (Social Media Today)

• TikTok is testing a feature that enhances its search functionality by highlighting keywords in comments and linking them to search results. (Tech Crunch)

Video Games

• Netflix has more than 20 mobile games on its platform, but less than 1% of Netflix subscribers are playing its games on a daily basis. Netflix games have been downloaded 23.3M times and average 1.7M players each day. (Cnet)

• Roblox has released its new Materials tools, allowing users to build with more realistic materials and textures that more accurately represent the physical world. Roblox creators can also upload entirely custom textures for their experiences. (Digiday)

• Roblox reported Q2 revenue of $591.2M, up 30% YoY, and had 52.2M daily active users in Q2, up 21% YoY. (Benzinga)

Live Sports

• A majority of sports fans want to watch games with drone camera footage. About 77% of US Major League Soccer fans showed interest in watching a broadcast with drone coverage, the most of any league’s fans. (Morning Consult)

  

• Formula 1 is planning to host events in Las Vegas year-round in a new facility. The company purchased a 39-acre plot of land in Vegas for $240M to develop for race events. (Front Office Sports)

• Liverpool is the most popular Premier League Club in America, with 61% of Premier League fans having a favorable opinion of the team. (Morning Consult)

  

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• Miller Lite introduced a “Grill Share” program that includes pop-ups and giveaways. At Grill Share stations in New York and Chicago, consumers can reserve a Miller Lite Grill and spatula, apron, folding beach chair with umbrella and $25 gift card. (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.