Lab Weekly - 05/20/2022
The rise of community-driven commerce; New podcast episode recapping the Google I/O; Plus, our analysis on the latest news and stats roundup
Hi, welcome back to another Floor 9 newsletter! I have no snappy opening for you today except to wish you a Happy Friday and an even happier weekend! Read on for our latest insights on the future of retail, and news from TikTok, Hulu, and Amazon. Let’s dive in!
The Intersection of Creator Economy and Retail Transformation
With the ascension of social commerce and the collapse of the purchase funnel, creators are playing an increasingly important role in product discovery and consideration. As brick-and-mortar retailers continue to weather through the harsh combination of continuing inflation, supply-chain disruptions, and labor shortage, savvy creators are increasingly leveraging the increasing number of social commerce tools and marketplaces to monetize their content and drive purchase, forming the basis of community-driven commerce that will rewrite the rules of engagement and conversion.
In case you missed it…
Google Adds Brand-Friendly Features to Visual Search
Google kicked off its annual I/O developer event last week with a hybrid keynote session. Amongst the deluge of announcements and debuts, the improvements made to Google Search and Google Assistant stood out as the most relevant for brands and marketers. Here’s what brand marketers need to know from the 2022 Google I/O event
The State of the Creator Economy
As new creator tools and features continue to pop up during the Newfronts week, we dived into the latest data from our proprietary Futurecaster survey to glean some fresh insights on the state of the #CreatorEconomy, along with some best practices that brands can tap into.
The Metaverse ≠ Web3: What Brands Need To Know
The metaverse discourse is being muddled by crypto startups and getting lost amid web3 hype, but innovation-forward brands should not lose sight on why it truly matters
Episode 138: Google I/O 2022 Event Recap
Welcome to another recap episode of Floor 9! This week, Adam and Ryan will walk you through all the major announcements from the latest Google I/O developer event, where the search giant announced several brand-friendly features on visual search, voice assistant, digital wallet, data privacy, and more. In addition, Adam and Ryan also talk about Google’s hardware news from the event, including the all-new Pixel Watch and a pair of AR glasses that Google subtly showcased in a demo video.
As always, you can find Adam on Twitter @adamjsimon, and Ryan on LinkedIn. Follow the Lab on Twitter @ipglab and on Medium for our latest insights.
Click here to listen and subscribe! If you enjoyed the episode, please consider giving us a five-star review on Apple Podcast. Thanks for listening!
Tiktok’s New Ad Product Enables Creators To Partner With Marketers On Branded Content [TechCrunch]
TikTok has launched a new ad product that essentially lets brands crowdsource content from the creators for their marketing campaigns. Currently in beta-testing, this new “Branded Mission” feature has been made available to select marketers across a dozen markets, who can create a brief and share it with the creators. The interested creators would then opt to participate and produce a short-form video in their style that also meets the requirements listed in the brief. If their submission is chosen by a brand to feature in their campaign, then they’d get paid via TikTok’s ad revenue share program.
This is the latest move in TikTok’s ongoing request to build out its creator monetization tools and help brands discover emerging creators, essentially becoming an algorithm-driven talent agency of sorts. Crowdsourcing creative material from TikTok for ad campaigns should, in theory, provide ample material to choose from, but only if both the financial incentives and the brand value both align with what the creators are after.
Related: TikTok is adding new video-crediting features, following backlash among black creators [Variety]; Snap unveils a Cameo partnership, new ad format and more original programming [TechCrunch]
Hulu Subscribers Can Get Three Months Of PC Game Pass For Free [The Verge]
Another OTT streaming service now comes with a side of video games. Following Netflix’s entry into the gaming space, Disney-owned Hulu is now also running a cross-promotion that offers subscribers a three-month subscription to Microsoft’s PC Game Pass gaming subscription service. Users who activate this reward will gain access to over 100 high-quality PC games on Windows including titles like Minecraft, Microsoft Flight Simulator, Halo: Infinite and more.
As the OTT market matures and cools down, driven in part by Netflix’s recent downturn that shook some investor confidence, more and more media companies are looking towards gaming as an ascending media category to tap into. Microsoft is also facing some fierce competition from Stream and PlayStation over its game streaming service, so this cross-category partnership makes sense for both services. We can expect to see gaming subscriptions become more closely tied to other media streaming services, if not entirely bundled together like Apple does with Apple One.
Related: Microsoft is moving ahead with an Xbox Game Pass Family Plan [Windows Central]; Amazon Prime gaming subscribers getting bonuses in Blizzard games [GameRant]
New Alexa Feature Lets Customers Scan Their Receipts For Cashback Rewards [TechCrunch]
In a bid to get more people to use the Alexa Shopping List feature, Amazon is testing a new cashback program that offers rebate from brands and manufacturers via the Alexa app, its mobile companion app for Echo device owners. Alexa users can select offers displayed in the Alexa Shopping List section within the app, and then scan their receipts across retail stores nationwide to claim their rebates on those offers. Amazon will send the rebate to the customer via their Amazon Gift Card account.
While this type of digital couponing feature is not new in the ecommerce world, with apps like Fetch Rewards, and Checkout51 making money through affiliate commissions and/or the resale of customers’ anonymized data, this is an interesting tactic for Amazon to pick up on. Besides being a great way to incentivize users to start using Alexa as a shopping companion, Amazon also gets to collect more data on what their customers are buying. And of course, the savings from this program will eventually be spent on Amazon as well, so it’s truly a win-win for Amazon.
Related: Researchers find Amazon uses Alexa voice data to target you with ads [The Verge]; Amazon’s ‘Alexa Together’ elder care subscription service for families now supports up to 10 caregivers [TechCrunch]
Here’s a great round-up from Marketing Brew on the latest OTT stats:
Netflix, which is readying an ad-supported tier for as soon as the end of 2022, is still by far the biggest streamer on the market, with 221.6 million subscribers, although it reported a slight downturn in Q2.
Disney+ is shrinking Netflix’s lead as it prepares its own push into ads: the service reported 137.7 million global subscribers, adding 7.9 million new subs from the prior quarter. Meanwhile, Hulu had 45.6 million subscribers.
In third place is HBO Max, which, combined with HBO, counted 76.8 million subscribers at the end of the quarter.
Coming in fifth: Paramount+, which counted 39.6 million subscribers. (Add Showtime and other Paramount-owned subscription services like BET+, though, and the company touted 62.4 million.)
NBCUniversal-owned Peacock brought up the rear with 13 million paid subscribers, but the company said it had 28 million monthly active accounts on its service, which has a limited free ad-supported offering.
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!
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