Media & Entertainment

As the US streaming market matures, the companies that make TV are expanding their purview. This can mean a lot of things, including moving into the hardware space, moving away from the hardware space, taking ownership of ad platforms, and extending coverage locally and internationally.

On today's episode, we discuss how Spotify performed in Q1, what's driving its subscriber engine, and whether its expected hi-fi streaming tier can help move the needle. "In Other News," we talk about whether gaming is critical to brand objectives and what to make of Pinterest's mixed signals. Tune in to the discussion with our analyst Daniel Konstantinovic.

XBox Live goes down globally: The game streaming service and games on devices were inaccessible as its cloud service went down. The trend of outages for high-bandwidth, high-traffic services continues.

Franchise films carried AMC through the first quarter: A slew of superhero films boosted AMC ticket sales despite a COVID-19 surge

Agencies spy an opportunity in the metaverse: WPP is partnering with Epic Games on a new initiative for that very reason.

Gaming’s labor problem could affect its brand opportunities: The industry is experiencing rapid consolidation, but workers are pushing back.

On today's episode, we discuss whether augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) will rival the smartphone as the next big platform, the impact of 3D advertising, how in-store shopping habits have changed, whether there really is an attention economy slowdown, what to do about inflation, an unpopular opinion about video chats, which way people fold their arms, and more. Tune in to the discussion with our senior director of Briefings Stephanie Taglianetti, director of forecasting Oscar Orozco, and analyst Dave Frankland.

Meta freezes hiring and reduces metaverse investment: Months after an audacious pivot into its VR future, Meta is contending with declining ad sales growth. Will the future wait for Meta to sort itself out?

While TV investments have remained resilient, YouTube is looking to drive viewership in a unique, consumer-first way. In this Q&A, Google's Brian Albert, managing director, shares why linear TV is largely going to revolve around live sports and news and connected TV is going to be the main topic in every Upfronts negotiation this year.

Wordle gives The New York Times an ad revenue boost: The viral wordplay game has brought in millions of users and their advertising data.

Spotify’s Roblox collab will help make inroads with young users: The music streaming service moved into the metaverse to reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha users.

Roku is taking streamers on in the race for original content: The digital video firm announced new advertising tools and content that immediately gained traction.

Meta’s podcast platform fails to keep up with audio M&A: The company’s podcast business became an afterthought as it focused on Reels and the metaverse.

Snapchat sees augmented reality as the key to social commerce success: The social media platform’s new AR creation suite enables businesses and shoppers to utilize the tech on and off the app.

Land grab represents the power of virtual brands: Bored Ape Yacht Club’s creator, Yuga Labs, has arguably become the hottest brand in the NFT space.

Apple’s shift away from tech doesn’t come at the expense of its brand: Once known for its sleek hardware, Apple is now focusing on media.

Podcasting finds favor with brand advertisers: US ad spending on podcasts is growing at double-digit rates and will pass $2 billion in 2023.

Meta juggles its Facebook present and metaverse future: The social network gains users, but recent losses could mean less money for metaverse R&D, giving VR platform competitors an opening.

India is the next battleground in the streaming wars: Amazon Prime Video, Disney, and Netflix are fighting for dominance in the growing streaming market.

Spotify’s Q1 user figures are up, but ad revenues are down: The music streaming platform managed to shake off controversy, but still isn’t immune from its effects.