Lab Weekly - 04/25/2025
Outlook 2025 - APAC POV; New Floor 9 episode on the Creator Economy; Plus, the latest about OpenAI, YouTube, TikTok, and more must-know news and stats
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Outlook 2025: APAC POV
Co-written by Kumar Kanagasabapathy, Chief Strategy Officer, IPG Mediabrands APAC, and Aditya Kilpady, Regional Strategy Director, UM APAC, with contributions from leaders across the region, this POV offers an in-depth look at how a haven-seeking mindset is reshaping media, technology, and brands across the APAC market.
In case you missed it…
Four Macro Trends Impacting the Future of Mobility
A convergence of macro forces — shifting consumer behaviors, auto trade policies, and rapid advances in self-driving technology — is starting to upend long-held assumptions about car ownership
How “A Minecraft Movie” Hit Box Office Gold
Decoding how the latest video game adaptation broke out and became a huge hit by riding on memes, deeply engaging its fan base, while also appealing to broader audiences
Decoding the AI Revolution of UGC
UGC-driven influencer marketing facing a moment of reckoning, thanks to the explosion of generative AI-powered creative tools
Episode 169: Upgrading the Creator Playbook for Brands
This week on Floor 9, host Tom Trudeau is joined by Lab members Chelsea Freitas and Ryan Miller for a dive deep into the evolving role of creators in the media ecosystem. From parasocial dynamics to AI’s impact on content creation, the trio explores how influencer strategies are maturing — shifting from short-term content sprints to long-term brand partnerships.
With insights on niche creators, multi-platform storytelling, and creators as storefronts, the team discusses what it takes for creators and brands to build trust, convert audiences, and stay nimble in a fragmented digital landscape. This episode is a must-listen for anyone tracking the future of influencer marketing and creator-led brand collaboration.
If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Follow the Lab on LinkedIn and on Medium for our latest insights. Thanks for listening!
OpenAI Makes Its Upgraded Image Generator Available To Developers [TechCrunch]
OpenAI just unlocked its powerful new image generation model, gpt-image-1, for developers via API—bringing high-quality, customizable visuals into a wide range of apps. While this move turbocharges creativity tools like Adobe’s Firefly, Canva, or Figma, the bigger beneficiaries may be OS-level giants like Apple or Microsoft. These players are better positioned to embed AI image tools deeply into native workflows, giving them a stickier, system-wide edge to compete against Google.
But there’s a flipside: the floodgates to mass image generation have officially opened. With millions of images already pouring out of ChatGPT, the risk of “AI slop” on social platforms—low-effort, high-volume content that clutters feeds—is set to rise. The question now isn’t just what developers can do with AI images, but how platforms plan to preserve quality and authenticity in the process. In response, brands must evolve their content strategy towards better quality and curation. That means not only developing clear AI visual guidelines aligned with brand identity, but also to lead with narrative and context, not just aesthetics, to break through the noise.
Related: Adobe adds AI models from OpenAI, Google to its Firefly app [Reuters]; The latest viral ChatGPT trend is doing ‘reverse location search’ from photos [TechCrunch]
YouTube Teases TV App Redesign & Custom Multiviews [9to5Google]
As YouTube celebrates its 20th anniversary with flashy stats and playful birthday features, the real story is its steady transformation into a full-fledged TV platform. Now available as a built-in app on nearly all smart TVs, YouTube is now fine-tuning its big-screen experience—adding easier navigation, playback upgrades, and even comment interaction—to go head-to-head with streaming services.
By doing so, YouTube is reshaping at-home media consumption by bringing creator content to the couch. Meanwhile, YouTube TV is quietly positioning itself as the new cable bundle for sports fans, offering customizable multiview options and live content designed to keep cord-cutters hooked. The future of television might not be Netflix—as much as its CEO Ted Sarandos would hope — it might also be YouTube, reimagined for the biggest screen at home.
Related: Roku announces its smallest streaming sticks yet [The Verge]; Max follows Netflix with an extra member option [THR]
TikTok Takes On Google Maps By Surfacing Reviews In The Comments Tab [TechCrunch]
TikTok is testing a new “Reviews” tab within the comments section of videos featuring geo-tags, allowing users to view star ratings, written reviews, and photos without leaving the app. The feature continues TikTok’s broader push into search functionality, which has already included image-based product search and keyword-driven search ads. Though still in limited testing, it highlights TikTok’s ambition to become a discovery platform and diversify its revenue streams.
More broadly, this new feature also reflects younger users’ preference for local discovery and online search in general — more visual results and socially driven. A 2024 survey by Forbes Advisor and Talker Research found that 46% of Gen Z and 35% of Millennials prefer social media over traditional search engines. This poses a direct threat to Google's search dominance, particularly in local search and discovery — historically strongholds for Google Maps and Google Business. For brands, this shift signals a growing need to optimize content for social-first discovery, investing in authentic video reviews, influencer partnerships, and localized content that can surface organically.
Related: Google Maps rolling out full sheet redesign on Android [9to5Google]; Meta’s Threads opens up ads to global advertisers [TechCrunch]; Instagram launches Edits app for video, rivaling TikTok [CNBC]
Situational Awareness:
Character.AI unveils AvatarFX, an AI video model to create lifelike chatbots TechCrunch]
Character.AI has launched AvatarFX, a new AI video model that animates characters using styles ranging from lifelike humans to 2D cartoons. This new model has the potential to supercharge the virtual influencer space. Until now, most AI influencers have operated through still images (or voice) plus text interaction. With tools like AvatarFX, these virtual influencers will soon be able to speak, gesture, and emote in convincing video formats.
Tesla begins ‘FSD Supervised’ ride-hail tests with employees in Austin, Bay Area [TechCrunch]
Tesla says it has started testing CyberCab, its robotaxi service, with employees in Austin and the Bay Area, and has completed 15,000 miles of driving so far. Previously, Tesla announced its plans to launch fully autonomous driving in Texas and California sometime in 2025, with the Cybercab entering production by 2026. Along with the advances made by companies like Alphabet’s Waymo and Amazon-backed Zoox, the arrival of autonomous vehicles for on-demand rides has been developing steadily in the past few years. Waymo's robotaxis, for example, made up about 20% of rides offered by Uber in Austin in the last week of March, after launching on March 4, according to a recent Bloomberg report citing YipitData.
Meta rolls out live translations to all Ray-Ban smart glasses users [The Verge]
This is undoubtedly a useful feature and a boon to the value proposition of Meta’s smart glasses. But it will be interesting to see how this feature holds up in the hands of over two million users in everyday life. This feature was previously tested in the real-world environment by The Verge: while it fared OK on most occasions, it did struggle with slang words, dialects, and proper nouns.
Duolingo is getting a chess course [The Verge]
This might seem like a quirky move for Duolingo at first glance—but it’s actually a smart play in horizontal expansion for the language learning app, which offers an interesting case study for brand marketers looking to grow without losing their identity. By leveraging the learning appetite of its over 40 million daily active users, Duolingo is hoping to tap into this loyal user base to expand its ecosystem and attract new users.
Gemini reached 350 million monthly active users globally, according to data shared in Google’s antitrust trial. While growing rapidly, it still trails ChatGPT’s estimated 600 million monthly users, per Google’s estimates. That puts ChatGPT on a similar user base to Meta AI, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in September was nearing 500 million monthly users.
Young people are taking on debts to afford travel and leisure events, and they are increasingly turning to the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services. According to a recent Billboard report, approximately 60% of general admission ticket buyers at Coachella 2025 utilized a BNPL payment plan to finance their tickets. This marks a significant increase from 2009, when only 18% of attendees used such plans.
Positive customer experiences, consistent product quality and long-term brand familiarity drive greater loyalty: two-thirds of consumers in the U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom are willing to pay an average of 25% more for their favorite brands, a recent UserTesting study found.
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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