Media & Entertainment

eMarketer forecasts that retail media and connected TV (CTV) will be among the fastest-growing digital ad channels this year. Jed Dederick, senior vice president of global client and agency development at demand-side platform The Trade Desk, joins eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Nicole Perrin to discuss what the firm has learned over the course of the pandemic, what buyers want from CTV and retail media, and why resolving the identity crisis is so important.

Watch AR ecommerce at Snapchat's quarterly earnings: The company is sure to give more details on its push to make AR shopping a bigger part of its platform, especially after announcing two major partnerships earlier this week.

On today's episode, we discuss which pandemic personas will stick around, why brands are struggling to know who their customers are, and the most important ways consumer behavior has likely changed permanently. We then talk about how people will shop once businesses are fully reopen, two new in-store virtual reality (VR) experiences, and what Apple's new “buy now, pay later” service could do to the space. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence Suzy Davidkhanian.

Disney sees straight-to-streaming success: "Black Widow" made $60 million from Disney+ rentals despite theaters being mostly reopened, a success story that could have lasting effects on future movie release plans.

Netgames: Netflix has made its long-teased push into video games official with its latest executive hire. Gaming could help revitalize the platform, which is starting to see stagnating growth.

NBCU's upfronts: The company said this year's upfront market was its biggest ever, driven by inventory for the Olympics and Super Bowl, plus unprecedented digital upfront commitments.

Stadia looks to attract game developers: Google will cut the fee it takes from games sold on Stadia from 30% to 15% in an effort to promote development on the flailing cloud gaming platform.

Roku soars at the upfronts: Advertisers’ upfront spending commitments with the platform doubled from last year, as interest in CTV continues to rise.

On today's episode, we discuss what to make of YouTube ad impressions moving over to TV screens, our connected TV ad spending estimates, and how to make TV ads more actionable. We then talk about what's driving Amazon's ad business, whether NBCUniversal can get primetime TV ad rates for slots on Peacock, and what impact Nielsen's new Podcast Ad Effectiveness+ solution will have. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Eric Haggstrom.

Listening at home: Podcast listening behavior continues to remain altered by the lack of commuting and in-person office work. Marketers should be vigilant about how the return to work in some offices could affect broader media habits.

On today's episode, we discuss what the most interesting areas of Amazon's business are, what longer videos mean for TikTok, why marketers should focus on Clubhouse and/or podcasts, why one company is bringing TV ads to console games, where Walmart beats Amazon, when we can expect to enjoy space tourism, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer director of forecasting Cindy Liu, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

On today's episode, we discuss what Facebook's new virtual reality (VR) ads look like, the ad formats that will be unique to VR, and what's driving VR headset growth. We then talk about the breakdown of what Americans are watching on TV, whether we will ever see ads on Disney+ and Netflix, and whether YouTube TV has the answer for sports fans. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Victoria Petrock and Paul Verna.

USA Today switches to subscriptions: It's the last major US news outlet to make the change, focusing on alternative forms of revenues as newspaper ad spending continues to fall.