Lab Weekly - 03/03/2023
Changes in consumer behavior trends in response to recession pressure; plus, the latest must-know news in generative AI and industry stats
Want this newsletter in your inbox every Friday morning? Sign up for our mailing list here
Four Ways Consumer Behaviors May Evolve Amid Recession Fears
Beyond some of the more obvious behavioral changes in the face of a potential recession, here are four emerging trends in consumer behaviors, especially for the more tech-savvy consumers, that brands should pay attention to.
In case you missed it…
Bing 2.0 Comes to Mobile as Microsoft Plots to Add Ads
Microsoft’s crusade to disrupt search continues, but not without some speed bumps. While the company continues to make the AI-powered Bing more widely available, it is also trying to fix some of the issues that early-adopters have encountered that grabbed headlines.
What Brand Marketers Need to Know about ChatGPT
We asked ChatGPT what it can do for brands, and then pulled apart its answers to see where the real use cases lie
How Long Will It Take for AI Search to Go Mainstream?
The age of AI search is upon us. How long the adoption curve will be is dependent on a number of factors, including availability, accuracy, and, yes, AI’s ability to forge emotional connection.
Instacart Joins ChatGPT Frenzy, Adding Chatbot To Grocery Shopping App {WSJ]
This week, we got another good example of the vast potential of generative AI in improving the customer experience. By integrating ChatGPT’s underlying AI technology into its app, Instacart is able to create a new “Ask Instacart” feature that lets users ask questions that will help them to create and refine shopping lists. As I mentioned in my article about the marketing implications of ChatGPT, generative AI tools would be great for this type of inspiration-oriented lead generation use cases. Before deploying them, however, brands will need to make sure they are properly trained on their up-to-date customer dataset, as well as industry and company guidelines before integrating them into their consumer-facing digital touchpoints. See the following story for an in-market example.
Related: Snapchat is releasing its own AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT [The Verge]; Microsoft brings its new AI-powered Bing to the Windows 11 taskbar [The Verge]; AI and ChatGPT are selling cars in the metaverse [Axios]
OpenAI launches a ChatGPT API for businesses [TechCrunch]
The wave of generative AI tools are being deployed by brands faster than ever before, as evidenced by the preceding Instacart story. Naturally, that presents a huge monetization opportunity, and we are just starting to see the floodgate open. Previously, Patrón Tequila made a “Dream Margarita” AI art generator, and Snapple created a tool that generates its bottle-cap “Real Facts” using generative AI.
This week, OpenAI launched a ChatGPT API for businesses, with dedicated capacity plans, priced at about $0.4 cent per 1500 words. The company also says Snap and Shopify are among the early adopters who will use the API to introduce advanced conversational interfaces into their apps and websites. Of course, this API is not only limited to the established brands either. An exciting new wave of startups are about to be built on the back of generative AI APIs like this, and come out of the gate with new types of user experiences than their predecessors.
Of course, OpenAI won’t be the only game in town for long. Amazon has teamed up with Hugging Face to develop its own enterprise-driven generative AI toolkits. Meanwhile, Meta has also introduced its own large language model called LLaMA, open to all developers who wish to make use of it. The generative AI revolution will be monetized, and the competition will be as fierce as it were when the mobile revolution started.
Related: Amazon Web Services pairs with Hugging Face to target AI developers [Reuters]; Meta debuts a new machine learning language model called LLaMA [The Verge]
Spotify Testing Playlists That Could Be Unlocked By NFTs [TechCrunch]
While the buzz around NFTs and web3 in general has cooled down significantly, partly thanks to the rise of generative AI in the past few months, it is interesting to see that not everyone is giving up on exploring the less obvious use cases of NFTs. This new feature that Spotify is exploring is a cool example of using NFTs not simply as digital collectibles, but also as a functional membership token for managing exclusive digital access. KINGSHIP, a band was launched by Universal Music Group as a virtual band of cartoon apes through its Web3 label in late 2021, will be the first band to test this new NFT feature, but the real potential will lie in allowing celebrities to token-gate their own playlists and attract fans.
It is also interesting to note that the NFT market is seeing a rebound in recent months. According to DappRadar’s February report, NFT trading volumes hit $2 billion in February 2023, the highest since the infamous LUNA crash last summer; the catalysts for the huge spike reportedly include the ongoing NFT marketplace war and Yuga Labs’ loyal fans and successful launches.
Related: Spotify experiments with musician NFT galleries [The Verge]; Spotify launches AI-powered personal DJ [9to5Mac]
“Dude Perfect” Group Unveils $100 Million Theme Park In North Dallas [WSJ}
In recent years, we’ve seen increasing examples of online success stories trying to extend their fame beyond the digital realm, with a growing number of YouTube stars trying to parlay their online followings into offline profits through ventures spanning merchandise, food and real-life experiences. The Mr. Beast burger chain of ghost kitchens come to mind as a prime example of this phenomenon. Now, the content creators behind the popular YouTube channel Dude Perfect, which have amassed more than 58 million subscribers on YouTube, might become the first influencer group to build a whole theme park. If this proves to be a hit, we can expect more out-of-home entertainment providers to partner with digital creators to tap into their large fanbases.
Related: ‘An extension of me’: The rise of the founder-influencer [Modern Retail]; More than 50% of nonprofessional U.S. creators now monetize their content [Variety]
Google Search is the go-to news discovery platform for U.S. adults, but that’s less the case for Gen Z, which prefers TikTok and Instagram more than older generations. The latest Morning Consult data shows that in February, 14% of Gen Z adults reported using TikTok to start researching a major news event, significantly higher than the share of all adults (2%) saying the same.
There are more than 2 million paid subscriptions to writers on Substack, the newsletter service reports. This is up from 1 million last reported in November 2021, meaning that Substack's subscription audience is bigger than that of most news organizations in America.
Morning Brew recently compiled a great rundown of the most recent OTT service subscriber base. Some highlights include:
Disney ended 2022 with 234.7 million streaming subscribers across Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+.
Paramount ended 2022 with more than 77 million subscribers across its streaming portfolio, which includes Paramount+ as well as Showtime OTT.
NBCUniversal’s Peacock ended the year with more than 20 million paying subscribers as it phases out its free, ad-supported tier.
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 our Group Director Josh Mallalieu!
If you liked this edition of Lab Weekly by IPG Media Lab, why not share it?