Media & Entertainment

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.

Money is quickly pouring into TV measurement: iSpot, Nielsen, and more have been part of multimillion or billion-dollar deals as the space heats up.

Microsoft’s gaming ventures could help expand its ad business: Its subscription and cloud gaming service could become the basis of a new ad format.

Meta earnings didn’t quite disappoint: After a particularly challenging prior quarter, Meta didn’t quite right the ship, but it did staunch the bleeding.

A growing number of brands and retailers are jumping on the bandwagon.

Unilever looks to promote inclusive culture as metaverse forms: Degree brand’s virtual run featuring avatars with disabilities kicks off a broader effort to provide accessibility to marginalized groups.

Netflix’s quantity-over-quality approach to content may change: The service released over 500 originals last year, but few stuck the landing.

Consumers are worried about the surge of ads in gaming: Xbox and Sony both have in-game ad programs in the works, and consumers aren’t thrilled.

Spotify’s controversies could hurt its ad business: Barack and Michelle Obama are leaving the platform months after its biggest star made negative headlines.

We forecast that US podcast ad spending will surpass $2 billion next year and $3 billion by 2026. Podcasts will account for over a quarter of digital audio services ad spending in 2022 and will be more than a third of spending by the end of 2026.