Lab Weekly - 02/16/2024
A new wave of AI Search experiences; Plus, the latest news about OpenAI's new text-to-video AI, Xbox's new strategy, Universal x Minecraft, and more
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What Arc Search Tells Us about the Future of AI Search
In this week’s Lab Original article, we explore the shift in online search towards AI, focusing on the latest examples of Arc Search and Perplexity, both of which offer summary-based search experiences. Innovations in AI-led search challenge traditional search engines and could disrupt digital media's revenue models, causing new headaches for brand advertisers. Still, AI search would need to close the consumer trust gap first.
In case you missed it…
What Marketers Should Know About Apple Vision Pro At Launch
Nearly a week post-Vision Pro launch, much ink has been spilled over speculating on how Vision Pro might shift the paradigm of personal computing, entertainment, and digital interaction. Based on this initial wave of reactions and hot takes, some key aspects about this much-anticipated headset are becoming a bit more defined. By extension, its long-term impact on the media landscape is also starting to take shape.
What Apple’s Recent App Store Policy Changes Mean for the Gaming Industry
Last week, Apple announced that it is changing its app review policy for in-app experiences, especially pertaining to streaming games. In theory, this change marks a huge shift for those in the cloud gaming business, which could then have knock-on effects for advertisers as well. In reality, however, things are much more complicated.
Outlook 2024: Downstream Effects
Welcome to the IPG Media Lab’s 2024 Outlook. Each year, we round up the ideas that excite us for the next few years: new technologies, market forces, and shifts in consumer behavior that are changing the media landscape. This year, we are particularly interested in how the second-order effects of the pandemic will play out over the rest of the decade.
OpenAI Unveils Sora, Its First Text-To-Video Model [Wired]
OpenAI debuted Sora, a groundbreaking app for generating photo-realistic videos from text prompts. It can create up to 60 seconds of 1080p video clips, and it is being released as a research product for some creators and AI security experts at the moment. Judging by the rather impressive examples floating around online, it seems that Sora is capable of producing videos that not only meet the prompt's requirements but also display a basic understanding of storytelling and cinematic grammar.
The arrival of Sora further cements OpenAI’s leading position in the multimodal AI arms race. The potential in democratizing video production is obvious, so are the emergent concerns over copyright and misinformation. For brand marketers, text-to-video tools like Sora could be a transformative tool for creative storytelling and brand engagement. By enabling the creation of high-quality, engaging videos from simple text descriptions, Sora offers brands a new avenue to craft compelling narratives without the need for extensive video production resources.
Of course, as the technology becomes more accessible, it also necessitates a renewed focus on ethical considerations, including the responsible use of AI-generated content and the importance of transparently disclosing AI-generated assets.
Related: Google launches Gemini 1.5 for developers and enterprise users, with a context window of up to 1 million tokens [The Verge]; The US Patent and Trademark Office denies OpenAI's attempt to trademark “GPT” [TechCrunch]
Microsoft Is Taking Four Xbox Exclusives To PlayStation & Nintendo Switch [Bloomberg]
Pre-announcement rumors were correct — in a major strategic shift, Microsoft will be distributing exclusive games to rival platforms like PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. This move, aimed at circumventing Xbox sales challenges and subscription slowdowns, could potentially broaden its gaming audience and revenue streams. Simultaneously, Microsoft's ambition to grow its mobile gaming presence, particularly through the Activision Blizzard acquisition, underscores its commitment to capturing a larger share of the gaming market, even at the expense of hardware sales.
Overall, it seems clear that Microsoft is more interested in being a successful game publisher and cloud game service provider than a successful gaming console manufacturer. For brands looking to reach gaming audiences, and perhaps understandably so, considering the rivals it is up against. In an internal memo, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer further explained their vision to turn Xbox from a console into a cross-device gaming platform.
For brands looking to reach gaming audiences, this approach opens up new engagement opportunities. By prioritizing its role as a cloud service provider, Microsoft is positioning Xbox games across a wider array of platforms, ensuring that brands can connect with gamers wherever they prefer to play. This strategy not only diversifies Microsoft's gaming ecosystem but also enhances its appeal to advertisers and partners looking to tap into a broader, platform-agnostic audience.
Related: Microsoft says its Xbox Game Pass service now has 34 million subscribers, up 36% from the 25 million subscribers Microsoft reported more than two years ago [The Verge]; Microsoft teases next-gen Xbox with “largest technical leap” and new “unique” hardware [The Verge]
Universal Opens In Minecraft, As Disney Goes With Fortnite [Theme Park Insider]
Interesting timing — following Disney’s big announcement last week of a major partnership with Fortnite-maker Epic Games to build a "games and entertainment universe" that will feature characters, shows, and games from Disney’s entire content portfolio, Universal unveiled a similar collaboration with Minecraft, which aims to extend Universal’s immersive entertainment offerings by blending physical theme park elements with digital gameplay, reflecting a growing trend in entertainment-driven metaverse concepts.
Judging by the “adventures map” that Universal released, it looks like a “best hits” compilation of the rides from Universal’s theme parks around the world — Minecraft players can go on adventures inspired by Universal Studios Hollywood's Jurassic World Ride, Universal Studios Florida's Revenge of the Mummy, Universal Beijing's Jurassic World Innovation Center, and Universal Studios Japan's Jaws ride, among others. It’s worth noting that some of these rides are no longer available in the real world, which adds to a nostalgia factor.
Such initiatives not only broaden the audience reach for iconic entertainment franchises, but also showcase the potential of virtual worlds in enhancing fan engagement by offering unique, accessible experiences that transcend traditional boundaries of location and physicality.
Related: Disney harnesses AI to drive streaming ad technology [Reuters]; One extremely dedicated Minecraft player has spent 12 years constructing their own incredible fantasy kingdom [GamesRadar]
Situational Awareness:
AI made it into a batch of Super Bowl commercials [CNET]
AI is so in the zeitgeist right now that every brand has a take on it.
Temu spent millions on six Super Bowl ads [Bloomberg]
Good luck trying to buy your way out of slowing sales back home with a deeply unsustainable business model, Temu! — Sincerely, Shein.
A crowd destroyed a driverless Waymo car in San Francisco [The Verge]
You can call them Luddites, but this incident is emblematic of the simmering tension between the impending wave of automation and the workforce big tech is threatening to displace without much regard.
These $349 smart glasses have ‘AI superpowers’ and a comical charging nose [The Verge]
Love the form factor and the fun charging nose! Skeptical on its user experience and practical use cases.
Amazon Prime Video drops Dolby Vision and Atmos unless you pay extra [The Verge]
The “enshittification” of our digital services continues, ever so subtly!
Microsoft says its new AI-powered Copilot tool produces significant productivity gains, citing its own New Future of Work survey, in which 68% of study participants responded that Copilot improved their quality of work.
Less than two weeks since its official launch, Apple’s Vision Pro has surpassed 1,000 apps designed specifically for the device, showcasing developer enthusiasm for its spatial computing capabilities and, more importantly, Apple’s gravitational pull in the digital ecosystem.
Less than 2% of console video games include L.G.B.T.Q. characters or story lines even though 17% of gamers self-identify as queer, according to GLAAD’s first survey on the gaming industry.
If you find our insights valuable and would like to have a deeper conversation on technology and media innovations, or need to sound smarter in a client meeting or a pitch, please feel free to reach out to Chelsea Freitas, our VP of Strategy, at chelsea@ipglab.com.
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