KC DEBRIEF WEEK 7, FRIDAY 2024/02/16
DIGITAL TITANS
_ Why Snapchat is pitching its platform as an alternative to social media. “Sports and music are [some of the ways] people are able to connect to each other and to culture,” said DeCourcy. “You will see us across this year lean into sports, music and the places that we know our community loves to have those real life experiences together, the concept of fandom and what it does for shared interest.” While the platform isn’t planning to spend more on advertising than it has in the past, Snapchat is “changing the strategy of how we go to market,” said DeCourcy, adding that the platform will be showing up at events that are meaningful for its users and focus on connection. “What we’re [focusing] more on is showing up for people and bringing value to those environments,” said DeCourcy. “You’re going to see partnerships, forums, discussions, a focus on redoubling down on the parts of our products that really make people feel good and connected. You’re going to see a brand that’s a living brand in action, having behavior in the world that illustrates to people what it means for there to be more Snapchat in their lives.”Aside from showing up over consumers’ shared interests, Snapchat will tout the new brand positioning with the linear TV spot, out-of-home media in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, St. Louis and Chicago, among others, as well as print and digital ads. It’s unclear how Snapchat is dividing the ad budget as DeCourcy did not share specifics. Throughout January to November 2023, Snapchat spent $21.5 million on media, according to data from Vivvix, which found that during the same time period in 2022 the platform spent $14.4 million. “As social platforms come under continued scrutiny, particularly due to its negative impact on teens (as we saw highlighted at the recent congressional hearings), Snapchat’s repositioning is a smart counter-narrative,” said Brendan Gahan, entrepreneur and former chief social officer at Mekanism. “They become the ‘safe’ platform for teens. Important as parents and lawmakers call for regulation and scrutiny for platforms like Meta.” Still, even if the pitch may help differentiate the platform, competition with social behemoths remains stiff, making industry analysts skeptical of its ability to compete for ad dollars at scale. “Snapchat’s effort to prioritize community and connections is a smart way to differentiate itself (and probably better for users), it faces the daunting task,” said Gahan. “How can Snap really compete with giants like Meta, TikTok, and YouTube? With just over 400 million [daily active users] it’s dwarfed by the billions at Meta, YouTube, and TikTok. Additionally, Snap’s $1.36 billion in [fourth quarter] ad revenue barely compares with Meta’s $38.7 billion last quarter.” Allen Adamson, brand consultant and co-founder of Metaforce, echoed that sentiment. “They just don’t have the scale,” said Adamson. “Big advertisers like to buy big eyeballs.”
_Youtube. Hollywood’s been afraid of Netflix (as they should be) ever since the platform won the streaming wars. But in terms of ad revenue and viewership, YouTube’s even more powerful, and it doesn’t use the streaming model at all. Forget wars — YouTube’s ushering in a new era of media consumption. YouTube has Netflix beat in several sectors by competing in a completely different way :
· YouTube far outpaces Netflix in ad revenue, having raked in $9.2 billion in Q4 2023 alone.
· The platform also wins in viewership, logging more viewing hours through its free service than Netflix nets with its 260 million subscribers.
· And YouTube reliably generates hits (unlike Netflix) without having to pay for them, since the service leaves content generation to creators.
_ Epic Games/ Disney. We may not be using the M word much these days, but the race to build an interconnected avatar-driven virtual world didn’t take the last year off. The metaverse, a tech buzzword sandwiched in between the hype eras of NFTs and AI, is still being built, regardless of what we’re calling it. And in light of news this week, one company is increasingly positioned to dominate the near future. Epic Games and Disney revealed Wednesday that they are designing an “entertainment universe” together full of Disney-flavored games to play and things to buy. The multiyear project will deploy Epic’s under-the-hood technology and Fortnite’s social gaming ecosystem to bring characters from Disney’s vast intellectual property vault to life. Disney invested $1.5 billion for a chunk of Epic in the deal.In an image promoting the project, Disney and Epic portray their work together as a series of futuristic colorful islands floating in space with highways running between them and a Magic Castle glowing in the center, a beacon of cash-printing possibility. Those highways, whether literally or symbolically, will connect with Epic’s Fortnite — a hit game that’s now evolved into a massive online social ecosystem.
_ Four Microsoft Xbox video games - and the firm was frustratingly careful not to name them - will now be opened up to alternative platforms for the first time, boss Phil Spencer announced to the world last night. He gave only a couple of clues: all four are community-driven, more than one year old, and they do not include recent releases Starfield or Indiana Jones. This feels like a big change of gear for Microsoft, which has long favoured exclusivity to its own Xbox platform and Games Pass subscription service. So what's behind the shift and what does it tell us about the future of gaming? Let's start with a 12 year old I know - my son.
_Sony Music acquires major stake in Michael Jackson Catalog, Valued at $1.2 Billion-PlusIn what is apparently the conclusion of a deal that Variety tipped a year ago, Sony Music Group has completed a transaction to acquire half of Michael Jackson’s publishing and recorded masters in a transaction that values the total catalog at around $1.2 billion, and possibly more, sources confirm to Variety.Billboard reports that Sony will pay at least $600 million for the stake.If accurate, the deal is the biggest for a single music artist’s assets to date. Sources confirm to Variety that the complex deal also includes assets from Jackson’s legendary Mijac publishing catalog, which includes multiple titles by Sly & the Family Stone as well as hits written or performed by Jerry Lee Lewis, Jackie Wilson, Curtis Mayfield, Ray Charles, Percy Sledge, Dion and others. However, it does not include royalties from the “MJ” Broadway musical and other theatrical productions featuring the musician’s music.
_ Adobe Express and TikTok’s Creative Assistant unlock new content ideation possibilities with first-of-its-kind integration . In a digital-first era, creating content that is adapted to a platform’s unique style and audience is more critical than ever for success. At Adobe, we're focused on delivering valuable new creative tools and capabilities directly into the hands of our users, empowering them to create with greater efficiency and impact. Today we announced a first-of-its-kind integration with TikTok’s Creative Assistant to make ideating, creating and optimizing stand-out video content for the platform quicker, easier and more effective. TikTok’s Creative Assistant is now available as an add-on in Adobe Express, enabling brands, marketers and businesses of all sizes to brainstorm, create and even generate TikTok content all within one platform. Previously available only in TikTok’s Creative Center, the Creative Assistant is an AI-powered virtual assistant that can intelligently collaborate with creators and brands on organic and paid creative content and supercharge success throughout the creative journey on TikTok.
PEOPLE, MEDIA, CULTURE
_ Neal Stephenson’s most stunning prediction. The sci-fi legend coined the term metaverse. But he was most prescient about our AI age. Science fiction, when revisited years later, sometimes doesn’t come across as all that fictional. Speculative novels have an impressive track record at prophesying what innovations are to come, and how they might upend the world: H. G. Wells wrote about an atomic bomb decades before World War II, and Ray Bradbury’s 1953 novel, Fahrenheit 451, features devices we’d describe today as Bluetooth earbuds. Perhaps no writer has been more clairvoyant about our current technological age than Neal Stephenson. His novels coined the term metaverse, laid the conceptual groundwork for cryptocurrency, and imagined a geoengineered planet. And nearly three decades before the release of ChatGPT, he presaged the current AI revolution. A core element of one of his early novels, The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, is a magical book that acts as a personal tutor and mentor for a young girl, adapting to her learning style—in essence, it is a personalized and ultra-advanced chatbot. The titular Primer speaks aloud in the voice of a live actor, known as a “ractor”—evoking how today’s generative AI, like many digital technologies, is highly dependent on humans’ creative labor.
_LGBTQ+ representation in video games lags behind film and TV, report finds. Glaad’s first survey on the state of inclusion in gaming finds that 17% of US players identify as LGBTQ+, but only 2% of games feature an openly queer character Keza MacDonald. In its first report on the state of LGBTQ+ inclusion in video games, US advocacy organisation Glaad (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) has said that games are yet to catch up with TV and film when it comes to queer representation. The study of US-based players found that 17% of gamers identify as LGBTQ+ a significant increase on the 10% reported in a 2020 Nielsen Games study, and 10% more than the proportion of the US general population thought to be LGBT+. By contrast, only 2% of games feature an openly LGBTQ+ character. That compares with 28% of films released in 2022, and 11% of primetime TV characters in 2022 and 2023, per other Glaad reports In partnership with Nielsen, Glaad surveyed 1,452 gamers in the US, from within and outside the LGBTQ+ community. It found that both groups appreciated the way in which gaming allows them to experience perspectives of people different from themselves (80% and 67% respectively).
_The Slack generation can’t communicate with the email generation. Why more platforms are dividing the workplace. Workplace miscommunication and conflict are on the rise, as work becomes more decentralized and multigenerational. Should you leave important information in a voicemail to a colleague? Should you pick up a phone call from your boss after hours? How do you determine what rises to the occasion of a face-to-face, and what information can be shared in an email? Cameras on or off? Answers to these questions can vary significantly based on industry, age, seniority, workplace culture and personal preference, and the lack of widely accepted norms is creating new workplace challenges. According to a recent study conducted by online language learning marketplace Preply, nearly one in 10 workers have been disciplined in a voice message, while two in five have deleted work-related voicemails before listening to them in full. Furthermore, while 86% prefer communicating via email, nearly 90% say that mode of communication is most likely to cause misunderstandings.
_ Superbowl. Thanks to Taylor Swift, ads aimed at women are taking the Super Bowl by storm Women watch the Super Bowl, too, right? And this year a slew of advertisers is expecting it. Health and beauty companies, some for the first time, are joining the scrum of beverage, technology and auto brands that have long been a staple of the blockbuster sports event. In a bigger shift, several longtime Super Bowl advertisers, like M&M’S, have spots featuring women who, for a change, aren’t just sipping soda in tight pants. Blame — or credit — singer Taylor Swift for this. Her much-publicized relationship with Kansas City Chief’s star Travis Kelce offers at least a chance of increased female viewership for this Sunday’s game in Las Vegas. She’s already been credited for a ratings bump for football since their relationship went public last October. “Taylor Swift’s attendance at the Super Bowl will likely have a significant impact not only on the size of the audience but also its demographic make-up,” according to Paul Hardart, a clinical professor of marketing for New York University’s Stern School of Business. “Swift boasts a massive, devoted fan base, and her relationship with Kelce adds an intriguing and romantic element to the event, making it even more appealing for brands to associate themselves with her presence,” he previously told CNN.At least 110 million people (and likely more) are expected to tune-in to this year’s battle between the San Francisco 49ers and the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs.So Cardi B plugs Duck Plump lip gloss for L’Oreal NYX Professional Makeup, the first time the brand has advertised on the Super Bowl. The company says the spot “highlights powerful women” and will be “hilarious.” Meanwhile, e.l.f. cosmetics, also a first-time Super Bowl advertiser, reunites (some of) the cast of “Suits” in its spot as the lawyers haul various celebrities into court.
_Can ESPN-Fox-WBD Sports Service Break Hollywood’s Streaming Jinx? Hollywood’s struggling streaming industry got a jolt with news that three of its biggest companies plan to launch a joint sports-focused streaming servicein the coming months. Could the offering from Disney/ESPN, FoxFOXA +1%and Warner Bros. DiscoveryWBD +4.2% finally create a sustainable streaming service that customers will reliably pay for, and importantly, compete better against streaming superpower Netflix and its tech-giant compatriots? Collectively, the subscription video-on-demand services from Disney, Comcast NBCUniversalCMCSA -0.5% , Paramount Global, and WBD have lost more than $11 billion since they started rolling out in late 2019, a ruinous run of losses that’s sent share prices tumbling the past two years and executives searching for stabilizing options. The joint venture potentially would create a Hollywood streaming service with enough scale and subscribers to create a stable, sustainable service that a substantial audience likely would pay for (though pricing has not been announced, and is a crucial issue). It holds promise to fundamentally reshape what’s left of the legacy broadcast and cable system, while shifting the streaming landscape with a powerful, vertically focused offering of popular exclusive content.
BetMGM is now the exclusive live sports betting partner for X (formerly Twitter), according to a press release.
Odds information and branding from BetMGM are being integrated into X, with games linking back to the betting platform’s app and website. Pro football is the first to be integrated, with additional professional and college sports expected to be added soon.
The partnership comes as online sports betting grows in popularity, and as X seeks to rebuild its reputation as an advertising platform. The partnership also leans into X owner Elon Musk’s idea of an “everything app,” which moves the service beyond a social media platform into more commercial areas.
KC Member Jennifer : “With X being a big hub of real-time sports-related conversations, BetMGM hopes to capitalize on that built-in audience. The partnership allows X users to access another service-with games linking back to the betting platform’s app & website. Pro football is the first to be integrated(This partnership was announced Friday prior to SuperBowl Snday, with additional professional and college sports expected to be added soon”.
AI AI LA LAND
//Using A.I. to Talk to the Dead. Some people are using artificial intelligence chatbots to create avatars of departed loved ones. It’s a source of comfort for some, but it makes others a little squeamish.
//OpenAI Unveils A.I. That Instantly Generates Eye-Popping Videos. The start-up is sharing the new technology, called Sora, with a small group of early testers as it tries to understand the potential dangers.This video’s A.I. prompt: “Several giant wooly mammoths approach treading through a snowy meadow, their long wooly fur lightly blows in the wind as they walk, snow covered trees and dramatic snow capped mountains in the distance, mid afternoon light with wispy clouds and a sun high in the distance creates a warm glow, the low camera view is stunning capturing the large furry mammal with beautiful photography, depth of field.”CreditCredit...Video by OpenAIIn April, a New York start-up called Runway AI unveiled technology that let people generate videos, like a cow at a birthday party or a dog chatting on a smartphone, simply by typing a sentence into a box on a computer screen.The four-second videos were blurry, choppy, distorted and disturbing. But they were a clear sign that artificial intelligence technologies would generate increasingly convincing videos in the months and years to come.
//OpenAI, launches Sora. The company behind the ChatGPT chatbot and the still-image generator DALL-E, is among the many companies racing to improve this kind of instant video generator, including start-ups like Runway and tech giants like Google and Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram. The technology could speed the work of seasoned moviemakers, while replacing less experienced digital artists entirely. This video’s A.I. prompt: “Beautiful, snowy Tokyo city is bustling. The camera moves through the bustling city street, following several people enjoying the beautiful snowy weather and shopping at nearby stalls. Gorgeous sakura petals are flying through the wind along with snowflakes.”CreditCredit...Video by OpenAI. It could also become a quick and inexpensive way of creating online disinformation, making it even harder to tell what’s real on the internet. “I am absolutely terrified that this kind of thing will sway a narrowly contested election,” said Oren Etzioni, a professor at the University of Washington who specializes in artificial intelligence. He is also the founder of True Media, a nonprofit working to identify disinformation online in political campaigns. OpenAI calls its new system Sora, after the Japanese word for sky. The team behind the technology, including the researchers Tim Brooks and Bill Peebles, chose the name because it “evokes the idea of limitless creative potential.” In an interview, they also said the company was not yet releasing Sora to the public because it was still working to understand the system’s dangers. Instead, OpenAI is sharing the technology with a small group of academics and other outside researchers who will “red team” it, a term for looking for ways it can be misused. “The intention here is to give a preview of what is on the horizon, so that people can see the capabilities of this technology — and we can get feedback,” Dr. Brooks said. OpenAI is already tagging videos produced by the system with watermarks that identify them as being generated by A.I. But the company acknowledges that these can be removed. They can also be difficult to spot. (The New York Times added “Generated by A.I.” watermarks to the videos with this story.)The system is an example of generative A.I., which can instantly create text, images and sounds. Like other generative A.I. technologies, OpenAI’s system learns by analyzing digital data — in this case, videos and captions describing what those videos contain. OpenAI declined to say how many videos the system learned from or where they came from, except to say the training included both publicly available videos and videos that were licensed from copyright holders. The company says little about the data used to train its technologies, most likely because it wants to maintain an advantage over competitors — and has been sued multiple times for using copyrighted material.
_As layoffs sweep the gaming industry, esports is getting hit particularly hard, leaving some industry veterans feeling less than optimistic about the future of competitive gaming. The story of the esports industry has always been a balancing act between the genuine passion generated by gaming at its highest levels and the less flashy, but increasingly important challenge of converting esports fandom into actual revenue. For years, steadily growing viewership numbers were enough to convince investors that profitability was just around the corner — but in 2024, that facade is falling away. In spite of the esports industry’s public struggles, longtime observers of the space remain split about just how dire the situation actually is. Some believe that last month’s layoffs are evidence that esports will never become more than a marketing expenditure for game developers, while others see them as a necessary correction on the industry’s path to profitability.
BRANDS
_Burgerking users generative AI to create Woppers. Those who submit their ideas to a contest will be entered to win a $1 million prize. Burger King fans who enter their Whopper ideas can watch AI visualize them. Burger King is taking ideas from fans for how to top a Whopper and using AI to visualize their dream recipes.
OFF TOPIC
_Inside the Censorship Scandal That Rocked Sci-Fi and Fantasy's Biggest Awards. Last week, the Hugo Awards melted down over unexplained disqualifications. Insiders tell Esquire what really happened—and what it could mean for the future of literary awards.