AGENCY WORK HIGHLIGHTS

• Our Multicultural Team hosted a mixer in Los Angeles at Grandmaster Recorders for existing and prospective entertainment clients to showcase all the team has accomplished in the last year. More than 50 guests from studios including Paramount Pictures, Disney and Netflix met with multicultural influencers and Allied team members from the Client Solutions, Media, Creative, and Partnership teams for a pleasant night of mingling, surrounded by vibrant music, specialty cocktails and a 360 photo booth.

  

INDUSTRY UPDATES

Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• In the US, YouTube is the most used platform by Gen Z, with 75% using it at least daily in the last month. TikTok and Instagram have the next highest Gen Z daily users with 59% each. (Morning Consult)

  

• Walmart will soon test a new video ad format that will appear in searches on its website and app. The ads will be sold using a CPC model. (Insider)

• California passed a bill to make apps and other online spaces safer for kids in the absence of robust federal standards. New regulations would go into effect in 2024, giving platforms time to come into compliance. (Tech Crunch)

Awards / Festivals

• Taylor Swift was the top winner at the MTV VMAs, taking home awards for video of the year, best long-form video, and best direction. (Billboard)

• MTV’s 2022 VMAs increased its key demo rating for A18-49 by 1% YOY. MTV simulcasted the VMAs across 13 networks receiving a 2.81 rating. (Variety)

• Snoop Dogg and Eminem performed in the Metaverse at the 2022 VMAs. It is the first metaverse-inspired performance for the award show. (Entrepreneur)

• At the 9th annual Location Managers Guild International (LMGI) awards, “Stranger Things” and “Succession” were among the top winners. (Variety)

• The Venice International Film Festival included an immersive experience called Venice Immersive. It allowed festival-goers to step into the metaverse for guided tours of virtual worlds. (AP News)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• Sony's newly released thriller, The Invitation, topped U.S. box office charts at $7M. This is the lowest top grossing movie since May 2021. (Reuters)

• The Cinema Foundation launched “National Cinema Day” on 9/3. The tickets were $3 for every showing in more than 3K theaters. (AP News)

• Over half of U.S. Gen Z (56%) and Millennials (55%) are interested in the re-launch of MoviePass. The subscription service allows users to see a set number of movies per month in theaters. (Morning Consult)

  

• August U.S. box office revenue is down about 43% from August 2019. Summer 2022 revenue is projected at $3.4B, which is up from last year ($1.63B) and down 21% from 2019. (Hollywood Reporter)

• Hollywood movies drove the majority of international box office revenue over the summer. Internationally, the top grossing movies include Top Gun: Maverick at $720M, Jurassic World Dominion at $611M, and Minions: The Rise of Gru” at $486M. (Variety)

Gambling / Casinos

• FanDuel will launch FanDuel TV, a linear network that will televise sports betting, fantasy content and live sports 24/7. (Variety)

• Genius Sports will share its full suite of data and live streaming solutions with Bally's Interactive brands as well as thousands of low latency video feeds to enhance Bally's live betting streaming experience. (Yahoo)

• While 54% of US mobile sports bettors make $100K+/year, 79% are concerned with their ability to pay their bills, loans and other debts. About 50% of the general population has the same concern. (Casino.org)

Live Events / Attractions

• Though 17 of 21 shows reported drops in ticket sales WoW, the overall Broadway box office was up about 6% WoW and attendance was up 2%. (Deadline)

• Actor Gabriel Byrne's solo show Walking with Ghosts will hit Broadway beginning October 27th and will run for 75 performances. (Deadline)

• Sundance Film Festival will return to Utah from January 19th-29th. Films will also screen online starting January 24th. (THR)

• Disney is considering a new membership program that would grant members discounts and perks for its theme parks, resorts, merchandise and streaming service Disney+. (WSJ)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Twitter will add podcasts to its platform, integrating them as part of its newly redesigned Spaces tab. (Business Standard)

• NBC's Dateline is offering a paid podcast subscription through Apple that gives subscribers early access to new episodes and monthly bonus episodes. (Digiday)

• Apple Podcast subscribers have grown 300% since June 2021. Over 25% of the top 100 shows in Apple's Top Shows list offer a subscription. (iMore)

Crypto / NFT / Metaverse

• A McDonald's themed metaverse restaurant serves food NFTs. The NFT owner created the metaverse restaurant to show brands what is possible in Web3, but does not have the restaurant chain's permission. (Ad Age)

• Meta will let users post and share NFTs across both Instagram and Facebook. Users can connect their digital wallets to post collectibles minted on Ethereum, Polygon, and Flow. (Tech Crunch)

• Apple is developing a mixed reality device called Reality One that has eye-tracking technology and 12 cameras to track hand movements. (Insider)

• Magic Eden is a new NFT marketplace that hopes to compete directly with OpenSea. The startup differentiates itself by focusing more on gaming rather than a marketplace for online art. (Tech Crunch)

• Genies launched its NFT storefront “The Warehouse.” Genies earned a $1 billion valuation from tech investors such as Silver Lake and Mary Meeker’s Bond Capital. (Tech Crunch)

• US Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X are expected to spend about 4-5 hours a day in the metaverse over the next five years. (Quartz)

OTT / Streaming

• Netflix Originals now make up half of its US library, up from 40% this time last year. (What's on Netflix)

• About 56% of 18–44-year-olds in the UK currently use someone else’s login for a streaming service, and over 65% of Gen Z viewers use someone else’s login. (AdvancedTV)

• Paid SVOD subs in the Middle East are expected to more than double in the next 5 years, rising from 9.49M in 2021 to 21.5M by 2027. (Variety)

• Netflix may price its ad-supported plan at $7-$9 per month with an ad load of four minutes per hour. (Variety)

• 14% of US adults paid a one-time fee of $19.99+ in the past month for at-home access to a movie playing in theaters, but that figure jumps to 31% among US adults who subscribe to 5+ streamers. (Morning Consult)

  

• Multicultural groups in the US are more likely to have streaming apps, with Hispanics, African Americans, and Asian Americans being 17%, 17%, and 33% more likely to have CTV streaming apps respectively. (TV Technology)

• T-Mobile added Apple TV Plus to its Magenta Max Plan offering, giving its subscribers a six-month free trial. (Cnet)

• Xperi is launching a smart TV operating system called TiVo OS. Vestel will ship the first smart TVs powered by TiVo in Europe beginning in 2023. (Business Wire)

• Paramount is adding Showtime to Paramount+ as part of a revamped streaming bundle, which will cost $11.99/mo for the ad-supported tier and $14.99/mo for the ad-free version. (THR)

• Netflix may charge advertising brands a $65 CPM on its upcoming ad-supported tier and wants to cap the amount any brand can spend at $20M annually. (WSJ)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• Instacart released a new feature called Carts that shows users curated lists of grocery items themed around events or picked by celebrities. Lizzo is one of the first celebrities to have a featured list. (The Verge)

• Amazon has paused its expansion of checkout-free Amazon Fresh stores in the UK, citing low sales and a tough economic environment. (Retail Gazette)

• Among people who traveled for work at least three times a year before the pandemic, 55% of those in the UK and 58% of those in France will never travel for work again. (Quartz)

  

• Amazon is struggling to expand in India. Its 2021 gross merchandise value in the country stood around $20B, about $3B behind rival Flipkart. (Tech Crunch)

• Bed Bath & Beyond is laying off about 20% of its corporate and supply chain staff. Current store openings and remodels have paused as well. (Retail Dive)

Social Media

• Snap is laying off about 20% of its employees and is canceling its original shows, in-app games, and several other projects as part of a corporate restructuring. (The Verge)

• Netflix hired Snap executives Jeremi Gorman and Peter Naylor to lead its ad sales team ahead of the launch of its new ad-supported tier. (Reuters)

• Snapchat released a BeReal-esque dual camera feature that lets users capture photos and videos using their phone's front- and back-facing cameras simultaneously. (The Verge)

• TikTok has cut employees from its US ad team as part of a department restructuring. (The Information)

• Instagram is testing new features designed to give users more control over suggested posts. The launch of these features comes as Instagram decided to temporarily reduce the number of suggested posts served to a user. (Tech Crunch)

Video Games

• Amazon will soon let gamers play by using their voices with the launch of Alexa Game Control. (Tech Crunch)

• Sony's PS VR2 will be released in early 2023 and will feature more forgiving ergonomics as well as live streaming capabilities and Cinematic Mode. (Engadget)

• Soundly is bringing virtual hearing aids to Roblox to combat the stigma around young people who need the device. (AdAge)

• Sony will acquire mobile-focused Savage Game Studios as part of a push to move beyond console gaming. (Reuters)

• Netflix is letting users create unique game handles in a subset of its mobile games in hopes to eventually let users play with one another and competitively rank themselves on leaderboards. (Tech Crunch)

• Facebook is shutting down the Facebook Gaming app in October, just two years after its launch. (Tech Crunch)

Live Sports

• DirecTV Stream rolled out its My Teams carousel, a personalized hub that lets users keep track of the sports teams they want to follow. (Fierce Video)

• A third of US adults are less interested in watching women's tennis after Serena Williams retires, while 15% are more interested in watching after she retires. (Morning Consult)

• Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group will create a sports joint venture in the UK and Ireland, bringing fans an extensive lineup of live sport coverage that will include the Olympic Games, Premier League, UEFA Champions League and more. (THR)

Interesting Campaigns / Creative

• In a new ad, Gucci placed their A/W collection into various scenes by director Stanley Kubrick from Clockwork Orange, to The Shining & to 2001: A Space Odyssey. (YouTube)