The Grammys’ slow growth is a sign of music industry trends: Listeners are less interested in new releases, damaging the broadcast’s viewership.
3D advertising on rise as brands step toward the metaverse: Twitter and Meta are banking on new ad types to propel growth.
Chipotle introduces a Roblox game and virtual restaurant: The simulation challenges players to roll burritos in the metaverse to earn “Burrito Bucks” that are redeemable for food at Chipotle locations.
Farfetch and Neiman Marcus join forces to update luxury retail for the ecommerce age: The fashion platform will invest up to $200 million in the retailer, with the latter using Farfetch’s ecommerce tools to power digital channels.
Texas becomes proving ground for drone deliveries: The pilot program will speed up small deliveries and help Wing improve its flying drone services. Meanwhile, regulatory and safety controls need to catch up.
Improving B2B payment automation and resolving cash flow issues provides a route into the SMB payments market.
Lockheed Martin becomes the DOD’s 5G integrator: 5G development can push the military’s digital transformation while partner companies build more secure solutions for consumer and private 5G applications.
In part two, our analysts Paul Verna and Andrew Lipsman discuss how well-positioned Silicon Valley giants Meta and Google and their Seattle counterparts Amazon and Microsoft are for top-gaining segments of digital advertising—gaming, digital audio, and in-store digital media. They also explore other companies positioning themselves for the post-cookie era of digital ads, and ultimately answer the question: Is Seattle—not Silicon Valley—the future of digital advertising?
Zopa claims profitability: The UK neobank broke the news at the Innovate Finance’s IFGS 2022 conference—but didn’t explain how it’s defining profitability.
Offering users 3% at PayPal merchants and 2% elsewhere can help PayPal achieve the user engagement goals it outlined earlier this year.
Experiential marketing makes a return, but COVID still looms large: Food brands’ plans for in-person activations could be soured by a new omicron surge.
Moneybox mulls financial planning and crypto: £35M ($48.1M) in funding will help the UK robo-advisor expand its offerings and appeal to retail investors more focused on personal financial management (PFM) than on trading.
The US challenger’s plan to mix decentralized finance with traditional banking in a “hybrid finance” approach could shore up its appeal to younger users.
Revolut includes pandemic-related coverage in travel insurance: Paid customers of the UK neobank with super-app ambitions can now get coverage from Allianz Partners across more than two dozen European markets.
Walmart eyes a significant opportunity with its online marketplace: The retail giant is offering sellers discounted commission rates to entice them to sell on its platform.
Westfield Malls’ owner looks to offload its US mall portfolio: The planned pivot is a sign executives believe that the evolving retail landscape means even top-performing malls aren’t worth retaining.
Google looks to help retailers understand shoppers’ intent: The tech giant launches a tool to allow retailers to add Google’s search technology and recommendations to their digital properties.
Dating apps Bumble and Hinge attracted more downloads worldwide in 2021 than the previous two years. Meanwhile, Tinder outpaced them both by at least 54 million downloads—albeit 8 million fewer downloads than its lead in 2020.