Lab Weekly - 05/19/2023
Upfronts trends and the impact of the WGA strike; plus, the latest news about ChatGPT, Roblox, and connected TV, along with some must-know stats on digital marketing and innovation
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Lessons from an Unusual 2023 Upfronts Season
The WGA writers strike has had a major impact on this upfront season — here’s what it says about the future of the media industry
In case you missed it…
Social Media In Flux: Existential Threats and Generative AI’s Impact
Key questions about the future of social media that brand marketers should keep a close eye on
Generative AI’s “iPhone” Moment, AI Trust Gap, and the Monetization Dilemma
Generative AI has our attention, but can it find the right product-market fit & path to monetization at scale to sustain its momentum?
Google I/O 2023 Keynote Recap: Tunnel Vision on Generative AI
What marketers need to know from Google’s annual developer conference about its grand plan to integrate generative AI across its core products
ChatGPT Officially Comes To iPhone With New App [ARS Technica]
ChatGPT just became even more accessible with a brand new iOS app. On Thursday, OpenAI launched a free ChatGPT app for iOS in the United States. Previously, users can access the web version via their mobile browser of choice. Complete with voice input support through OpenAI's Whisper AI speech recognition model, and chat history synchronization with the web version, this official mobile client app will be free to use with no ads at the moment.
An interesting thing to note here is that, as tech analyst Ben Bajarin points out, judging by this app launch, Apple seems perfectly content to let third-party developers write AI apps for their ecosystem of devices at the moment. But, Apple famously prefers on-device machine learning processing over the type of cloud-based solutions that many others, including OpenAI and Google, prefer. So it will be interesting to see how that gets worked out in the process of bringing generative AI apps into iOS.
Related: ChatGPT ‘portfolio’ outperforms leading UK funds [Financial Times]; Apple reveals new AI-powered accessibility features, like custom text-to-speech voices [TechCrunch]; 45% of executives have increased AI investments due to ChatGPT [Gatner]
Roblox Goes After Older Audiences [The Verge]
Roblox, the proto-metaverse video game that over half of U.S. teens play, is now on a quest to convince brands that it has got an older audience too. According to Roblox CEO David Baszucki, Roblox is experiencing its fastest growth among players aged 17 to 24. The platform’s audience is starting to trend older, with more than 55% of its users being older than 13.
Over the years, Roblox has been criticized for its lack of age restrictions. The platform allows users of all ages to create and play games, and some of these games contain mature content. In response, Roblox rolled out an age limit moderation in March to help keep kids playing suitable games. For instance, users under the age of 13 are unable to access games made for ages 13 and up. At the time, many took it to mean that there is a chance more adult experiences are set to arrive. In a way, this is also how the platform will mature with its audience over the next few years.
Related: Crocs come to Minecraft in new crossover [AdWeek]l Heineken plays matchmaker for gamers on new platform [TechCrunch]
Pluto Co-Founder’s Telly Startup Giving Away 500,000 Dual-Screen TVs [Forbes]
The core idea here is that this new startup Telly will sell a decent 4K TV with a second screen mounted underneath. On that extra screen, which can’t be disabled, users will see a mix of informational widgets and ads. The device is given away for free, and the entire business model is supported by advertising, data, and affiliate revenue streams.
Is there an audience for a free 55-inch 4K TV that comes with inescapable ads displayed right underneath your TV all the time? Probably. The company shared on Thursday that more than 100,000 people have filled out an online form for a chance to score a free Telly set.
Then again, could the always-on ad display be the most annoying thing that some people will immediately try to hack the additional display to block the ads? Absolutely! That said, there is something quite admirable about seeing a startup taking risks and going for a big swing with an inventive new form factor of connected TVs and a corresponding business model to match.
Telly is the latest entry into an ongoing CTV gold rush. The vast majority of TV content is now consumed via apps built into smart TVs, and connected TVs represent where ad revenue will derive. In response, the likes of Comcast, Charter, Roku, and Amazon have all announced plans to build their own TV sets in order to own as much of the new revenue stream as possible.
Related: Ad spend on connected TV will increase alongside time spent [Insider Intelligence]; YouTube is bringing unskippable 30-second ads to TV [The Verge]
Cord-cutting rate hit all-time high in the first quarter of 2023, Variety reports, as pay-tv subscriptions fell to only 58.5% of U.S. households, its lowest levels since 1992. As of the end of Q1, U.S. pay-TV services had 75.5 million customers, down nearly 7% on a YoY basis.
A recent Ipsos poll of 4,415 US adults finds that 61% believe AI could threaten civilization and 66%+ are concerned about negative effects, Reuters reports. However, crime and the economy rank higher in the list of kitchen table issues: 77% support increasing police funding to fight crime and 82% are worried about the risk of a recession.
The upcoming Memorial Day weekend will be a busy time for travelers, as AAA estimates that 42.3 million Americans will travel during the holiday weekend, Axios reports. That’s a 7% increase over last year, reaching pre-pandemic level.
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