AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

  • Our Experiential team worked with Amazon Entertainment and Character (previously Amazon Toys) to design and produce a booth at Disney’s D23 Fan Expo at the Anaheim Convention Center. The entire set was constructed of cardboard, in a nod to Amazon’s iconic delivery boxes. The experience included displays and activities for Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Princess, Disney’s Doorables and Amazon Glow. The activation included immersive story-telling experiences as well as Amazon Glow device demos, to promote sales and awareness of show-exclusive products and limited-time deals. Families and attendees lined up to take photos, receive exclusive prizes from the Amazon prize wheel, and purchase limited-time products on Amazon.com. The booth was such a huge success that Disney added queue space to accommodate lines swelling to upwards of 250 fans.

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

  • Gen X is the most likely age group to make in-app purchases, but they prefer ad-supported models to IAP models. (IronSource)

  • The majority of mobile users have 20+ apps on their devices, but between 39% and 50% only use 5 to 10 of them daily. (IronSource)

  • About a third of gamers prefer app store ads, while 21% of non-gamers favor video ads and promotions. (IronSource)

  • The New York Times now allows ads on The Athletic, its sports publication. It hopes they'll make The Athletic profitable within the next three years. (Axios)

  • Between 2020 and 2025, the African e-payments market will grow by 152% to $40B in revenue from domestic payments alone, with about 188B transactions. (McKinsey)

  • UK brands and media owners paid tribute to the late Queen by pausing ad campaigns in the lead up to her funeral. (Ad Age)

  • Google, accused of anti-competitive conduct and abusing its dominant place in the ad tech market, faces legal cases in the UK and the EU with a possible payout of up to €25B. (BBC)

  • Paramount ANZ has introduced dynamic QR code tech into CTV ads, letting brands change codes depending on the audience location, time, show, deals, and product availability. (Mi3)

  • Google announced the rebranding of ad extensions to assets in the Google Ads user interface, and will roll out the new feature in the coming weeks. (Media Post)

Awards / Festivals

  • HBO dominated the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards, taking home 38 awards including wins for "The White Lotus," "Succession," and "Euphoria". (Reuters)

  • Zendaya became the youngest two-time Emmy winner for her performance as lead actress in the series “Euphoria.” (Variety)

  • The Toronto International Film Festival moved away from digital screenings for in-person screenings and events. (The Hollywood Reporter)

  • The Emmy Awards reached an estimated audience of 5.9M, resulting in the lowest-ever rating for the awards show. (AP News)

Cinemas / Theatrical

  • “Barbarian,” a new horror film, brought in $10M over the opening weekend, leading domestic box office charts. (Variety)

  • Disney revealed news about upcoming movie releases and projects at the D23 Expo. Fans were given a look at new content from Indiana Jones 5, Disenchanted, Black Panther, The Little Mermaid, and Wish. (Deadline)

  • Lea Michele's debut as ‘Funny Girl’ on Broadway brought in $1.6M in the first week, setting a show record for box office revenue. (Deadline)

Gambling / Casinos

  • For the fifth year in a row, Mohegan Sun has been named the Best Casino Hotel in the US. (Casino.org)

  • 71% of people in the UK think there is too much advertising and sponsorship for sports betting. The level of concern is consistent among regular sports bettors (65%). (YouGov)

  • Globally, 40% of those who have gambled in the past year talk about gambling on social media, rising to 51% when it comes to monthly bettors. (YouGov)

  • Sydney’s The Star casino has been found unsuitable to operate in Sydney after facing an inquiry related to money laundering and organized crime. (ABC)

Live Events / Attractions

  • Disney Parks unveiled several new attractions based on titles like Coco, Frozen, Moana, Zootopia and Villians. (Deadline)

  • Disney100: The Exhibition will open at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia next year. It's an immersive celebration of Disney's 100-year anniversary. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

  • Katy Perry will continue her Las Vegas Residency, Katy Perry: Play Las Vegas from October 5th-20th at Resorts World Theater. (Vegas Magazine)

  • Luke Bryan, Chris Stapleton and Kane Brown will headline next year's Stagecoach Festival, which will take place in mid-April 2023. (Deadline)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

  • Elton John’s final US concert will livestream on Disney+ on November 20, accompanying a new original documentary about the rock legend. (Rolling Stone)

  • Well-known music producers James Fauntleroy and Hit-Boy are creating a new album for the Bored Ape Yacht Club. The virtual rock band will release an album and perform in the metaverse. (Bloomberg)

  • The copyright lawsuit against Taylor Swift over her song “Shake It Off” is officially set to go to trial. The case centers on similarities between the song’s lyrics and one from girl group 3LW. (Billboard)

Crypto / NFT / Metaverse

  • Goldsky, a data infrastructure company for crypto startups, raised $20M in funding, setting them up to address the expensive challenge for Web3 companies when it comes to reading and processing data. (Tech Crunch)

  • The Biden White House released its first-ever framework on crypto regulation in the US, outlining ways the financial services industry should evolve to make borderless transactions easier and how to crack down on fraud. (CNBC)

  • Ethereum’s software upgrade, designed to cut the cryptocurrency’s energy consumption by more than 99%, has been a success. (CNBC)

OTT / Streaming

  • Kroger is expanding its private programmatic marketplace to include video and connected TV inventory, as CPG spending increases in OTT. (Ad Age)

  • ABC, NBC and CBS see the TV networks as a first stop for their content before moving to sister streaming platforms. (WSJ)

  • Days of Our Lives is moving exclusively to streaming on Peacock, a move that comes after 57 years on air at NBC. (WSJ)

  • Roku will be adding short form video, a universal save list, and ‘continue watching’ features in its next software update, Roku OS 11.5. (Tech Crunch)

  • Disney is looking to fully integrate Hulu with Disney+, creating a hard bundle allowing users to view content from both services within one application. (CNBC)

  • Netflix estimates its ad-supported streaming tier will reach 40M viewers globally by the end of 2023. (WSJ)

  • Paramount Global is streamlining its offering by merging its Showtime service with Paramount+. (WSJ)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

  • Southwest Airlines is increasing its service in and out of Las Vegas beginning in 2023. Starting in March, 243 Southwest departures will be scheduled daily from LAS. (Casino.org)

  • Google will soon allow gambling apps on Google Play India in response to requests from users for the inclusion of DFS and rummy. (Casino.org)

  • About 70% of US consumers are reducing their spend on retail purchases to pay for the rising cost of essentials, and 78% of consumers say they plan to eat more at home more often to save money. (PYMNTS)

  • Walmart released new features for its e-commerce site and app focused on personalization and ease of shopping, including a new online styling feature. (Retail Dive)

  • Upcoming holiday sales are expected to grow from last year, although the increase will likely be driven by inflation. (CNBC)

  • The founder of Patagonia donated his company to a charitable trust. Profits of around $100M a year will go toward climate causes. (BBC)

Social Media

  • Time spent on Instagram Reels lags behind TikTok. Users are watching about 17.6M hours per day on IG versus 197.8M hours per day on TikTok. (WSJ)

  • Twitter introduced its redesigned Spaces tab to Twitter Blue subscribers. It includes personalized hubs for users called “Stations.” (Tech Crunch)

  • Meta announced the launch of "Community Chats” on Messenger and Facebook Groups, allowing large Messenger groups to organize chats into categories. (Tech Crunch)

  • TikTok announced a new feature called Now, sending users a daily notifications to capture a picture or video using the dual camera feature. (The Verge)

  • A proposed California bill will impose a first-of-its-kind requirement on social media companies to publish their policies for removing disturbing content including hate speech. (KNX News)

  • Meta is merging two departments, business integrity and central integrity, to drive efficiencies and combine customer service efforts. (Axios)

  • Instagram launched a Re-post feature for the main feed, enabling users to amplify any post by re-sharing it for their followers. (Social Media Today)

Video Games

  • About 75% of women globally play video games. Half of female players prefer to play games on mobile and 75% play games in single-player mode. (NewZoo)

  • Roblox will soon add age guidelines and expand its advertising business to court an older demographic and add revenue streams. (The Verge)

  • Netflix is partnering with Ubisoft for three exclusive games, including a new Assassin's Creed. (Kotaku)

  • Discord voice chat is now available on Xbox consoles. Xbox owners will see a new Discord voice option inside the Parties & chat section of the dashboard. (The Verge)

Live Sports

  • DirecTV is the exclusive home of the NFL Sunday Ticket website and app, which crashed during opening weekend - leaving customers unable to watch. (Tech Crunch)

  • FOX says it has sold 95% of its Super Bowl ad inventory, with just a few 30-second slots left to sell for about $6-7M each. (Variety)

  • 19 year old Carlos Alcaraz won the US Open, becoming the youngest number 1 player in men's tennis history. (ESPN)

  • 65% of fantasy sports players who participate in football use ESPN, followed by 55% who use DraftKings Inc. (Morning Consult)

  • Amazon debuted its first national streaming broadcast of NFL Thursday Night Football last week, but 48% of viewers still preferred to watch the first preseason game via local broadcast. (Next TV)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

  • Pinterest launched its latest campaign, Don’t Don’t Yourself, which markets the platform as accepting and ambition-driven, free of self-censorship and negativity. (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.

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