Lab Weekly - 03/11/2022
The future of insurance, shaped by IoT and Web3; New Floor 9 episode recapping the latest Apple event; Plus, news analysis and stats roundup
Hello hello, welcome back to another edition of Lab Weekly! In this week’s original article, we’re looking into the future of the insurance through the lens of connected devices and web3 tech, analyzing the new opportunities and business models they unlock. Furthermore, Floor 9 is back with an all-new episode, in which Adam and Ryan discuss highlights from this week’s Apple Event before delving into some latest “brands in the metaverse” news.
How IoT and Web3 Technologies Reshape the Future of Insurance
Insurance brands should leverage IoT data to expand usage-based insurance, while also exploring the opportunities that web3 technologies may unlock
In case you missed it…
The Subscription Economy Enters New Dimensions
Can the subscription model work for service-oriented brands? Many across the travel, healthcare, and QSR industries are experimenting to find out, revealing a new dynamic of customer relationships and how brands can leverage it build loyalty
How Brands Can Find the Right Entry Points to the Metaverse
From in-game experiences to connected communities, brands should carefully weigh the pros and cons of each emerging option as they prepare to enter the metaverse.
Episode 134: Apple Event Recap & Metaverse News Roundup
Welcome back to another new episode of Floor 9. This week, co-host Ryan Miller and Adam Simon are back on the mic to share their hot takes on the latest Apple event that took place on Tuesday, including our thoughts on Apple’s content strategy and its MLB content deal, its 5G approach, and its pursuit of faster, better CPU chips with Apple Silicon. In addition, they also talked about some latest news of brands in metaverse and web3, including:
American Eagle Debuts on Roblox via Role-playing Game Livetopia [Ad Age]
Gucci Plans Virtual World for Gen Z in The Sandbox [Vogue Business]
Rolling Stone Inked Partnership with Meta for A Creator Initiative at Festivals [Variety]
Coachella To Sell lifetime Festival Passes as NFTs [The Verge]
As a bonus,, Adam also shares his thoughts on the “flight subscription” plans that Alaska Airlines recently announced.
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Netflix Is Launching A Daily Trivia Series Called “Trivia Quest” [The Verge]
Remember HQ Trivia? Well, Netflix is bringing it back, sort of. The lines between digital video and video games continue to blur, as the global streaming powerhouse is set to launch its first-ever interactive game show in April. Based on the hit multi-platform trivia game, Trivia Crack, the series will offer 24 trivia questions daily. New questions will be released each day from a variety of categories, strung together by a plotline that will guide players through the series as they accumulate points.
While Netflix has experimented with interactive content plenty of time before and has recently entered the mobile game arena, this game is the closest it has gotten to building a daily game with shareable results a la Wordle. If Netflix is smart, they’d be developing a leaderboard among different profiles under the same account, and develop social integrations to make it easy for viewers to share their daily results.
Related: Netflix again raises prices for all plans, 4k streaming now $20 per month [MacRumor]; Disney+ will add a cheaper ad-supported tier later this year [Engadget]; NBCUniversal bets on video game advertising in deal with ad tech startup [AdAge]
Apple TV+ Adds Friday Night Baseball Content With MLB Deal [The Verge]
Apple revealed during its latest product event this week that it has inked a multi-year deal with the MLB to bring a weekly “Friday Night Baseball” doubleheader to Apple TV+. According to Apple’s press release, it will also launch a live highlight show called “MLB Big Inning,” which will provide live game look-ins every weeknight; along with a 24/7 livestream with game replays, news, highlights and classic games. This announcement marks a significant step in Apple’s evolving content strategy, as it officially adds licensed live sports content to its growing content offering. However, the timing of the announcement was less than ideal, given the ongoing lockout due to labor dispute between MLB owners and the players. Luckily for Apple, the issue has been resolved by Thursday afternoon, with a full season of 162 MLB games back on board.
Related: MLB deals with Apple and NBC Sports worth a combined $115 million annually [Forbes]; Verizon now offers permanent Apple Arcade subscription included in its unlimited plans [9to5Mac]
TikTok Is Beta Testing A Program To Allow Crypto Ads [Morning Brew]
The crypto movement wants to sustain its growth momentum gained from its splashy debut at the Super Bowl, but crypto companies have encountered some red-tape blocks that prevent them from advertising on major social platforms, due to the rampant frauds and scams in the crypto space. While there has always been plenty of organic content on social media posted by crypto enthusiasts and companies, they have been restricted from utilizing ad products on social networks to promote their products and acquire new users.
However, restrictions around crypto advertising on TikTok could ease up for some brands soon, thanks to a program that’s currently in beta testing for U.S. and Canadian users. Needless to say, if this beta testing proves viable, it would unlock a massive opportunity for both crypto advertisers and the platform itself. Whether other social platforms will follow suit in testing similar programs remains to be seen.
Related: Ad spend for cryptocurrencies increases as advertisers educate consumers [MarTech]; Universal music group teams with Curio to sell NFTs as digital collectibles for music artists, labels [Variety]
Click and collect is still going strong in the US, but not as strong as before. Per eMarkter’s latest estimates, click-and-collect sales will increase by 19.4% in 2022, and the total number of click-and-collect buyers will grow by 3.8%. Both figures are way below their pandemic-era peaks, but still slightly ahead of the growth rates for overall ecommerce. Nearly 60% of all internet users, and more than 70% of all digital buyers, will use click and collect at least once this year.
A new survey by Statista found that Paypal, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay remain the most used online payment services among U.S. consumers. Paypal tops the chart with a big lead, as it is used by 85% of online payment users; Venmo follows with 32%, while Apple Pay ties with Google Pay at 25%. Amazon Pay rounds out the top five with 24% of usage among the survey respondents.
QSR marketers are riding the plant-based food wave, which is estimated to potentially grow from a $29.4 billion market in 2020 to more than $162 billion in 2030, per Bloomberg Intelligence. Meat and dairy alternatives are estimated to obtain as high as 5% and 10% of their respective global market shares over the next decade.
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