1. Former President Donald Trump has a long history of suing people who he believes have wronged him, and his latest lawsuit is no exception. On Monday, Trump filed a suit against CNN, seeking $475 million in damages. The suit claims that CNN defamed Trump by using the term "The Big Lie" to describe his false claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. While it's doubtful that Trump will
ever see any money from this suit, it's clear that he is once again using the legal system to try to silence his critics.
2. With the release of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" just around the corner, companies are scrambling to cash in on the anticipated sequel. Sprite and Lexus are among the brands running tie-in campaigns, each with its own take on the movie.
Sprite is embedding QR codes on its Sprite Zero
Sugar products that access an AR experience called "Hall of Zero Limits." A new TV spot, special packaging and a look at the Black and Hispanic women behind "Black Panther" are also part of the effort.
For its part, Lexus is offering fans a chance to win tickets to see the movie by entering a sweepstakes. The grand prize includes airfare, accommodations and a private screening of the film. So if you're hoping to catch "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" on opening weekend, you
might want to stock up on Sprite and enter the Lexus sweepstakes for a chance to win.
3. The call for the first-ever Gamer Jack is out! As the face of weekly livestreams, this person will be responsible for fostering relationships with gamers and representing ack in the Box. They will also receive a salary and gaming set-up stipend as part of their benefits package.
4. Google
has just announced a new bidding strategy for in-app advertising, which they're calling tROAS. With this new strategy, you'll be able to target users based on their engagement with your in-app ads, and pay dynamically depending on how likely they are to engage. This is a big deal because it means that you can now tailor your ad spend to get the most bang for your buck. If you want to set up tROAS for your app, Google says you need to add publisher data such as ad revenue data to your
Google Analytics property, and then link your Google Analytics property to Google Ads. Once you've done that, you can start sending your Google Analytics ad_impressions event to Google Analytics, and tROAS will do the rest.
5. Fandom, a San Francisco-based online publisher of entertainment and technology guides, has acquired several marketing blogs operated by Red Ventures, according to a report. The deal, first reported by the Wall Street
Journal on Monday, is valued around $55 million and includes TV Guide, Cord Cutters News, Comic Vine, GameSpot and other websites. The move is likely to bolster Fandom's already strong presence in the tech and gaming industries, as well as give it a foothold in the cord-cutting market. It also signals a continued consolidation in the digital media landscape, as larger companies look to acquire smaller properties to extend their reach. For its part, Red Ventures has been on something of
a shopping spree lately, having acquired both Bankrate and The Points Guy in recent months. And with this latest deal, it looks like the company is doubling down on its strategy of buying up niche sites with passionate audiences.
6. The Shop City in the game Forever 21 is sort of like a real-life market that is planned around a virtual Forever 21 store. The game is targeted at fashion enthusiasts, bloggers, and influencers who can create, own,
and manage their own Forever 21 shops. There are two collection types meant for winter and summer styles available. Players can run their shops with real-world business-like functionalities such as inventory stocking, hiring employees, decorating their shops, addressing customers, and competing with other Forever 21 shops to become the ‘top shop’ in the metaverse. The players can also shop from the Forever 21 Store, style their avatar, and gain same Forever 21 accessories IRL. However,
there is one key difference between the Shop City in game and real life: in Shop City, you can be anything you want to be, even if you’re not a fashionista. So go ahead and create your own shop, hire some employees, decorate your shop however you want, and compete with other players to become the top shop in the game! Who knows, maybe you’ll even get some real-life Forever 21 accessories as rewards for your achievements in the game.
7. Breaking conventions isn't just about being edgy for Gen Zers, it's about developing brand experiences that authentically suit their algorithms. In other words, brands need to understand the way Gen Zers consume content and use that to their advantage.
There are five key categories that brands should focus on: gaming, entertainment, education, fashion, and beauty. Within each category, there are sub-cultures that brands can target. For example, in the
gaming category, there are Streetwear X Gamers and Gamer Girls. In the entertainment category, there are Horror Healers and Poetic Connectors. In the education category, there are Adult-ing Hackers and Scientific Edutainers. In the fashion category, there are Maximalists, Real-Time Fashionistas, and UP-thrifters. Lastly, in the beauty category, there are Cursed Cosplayers, Beauty ASMR-tists, and Cover Boys.
To capture Gen Z's attention, brands need to be strategic and
authentic in their approach. By understanding the different sub-cultures within each category, brands can develop experiences that will resonate with Gen Zers.
8. Video piracy is a huge problem. Just ask Adriana Waterston, chief revenue officer and insights and strategy lead at Horowitz Research. In a recent presentation, she revealed that four in 10 U.S. adults admit to pirating video content. That's a lot of people breaking the law!
The survey found that the top ways of pirating are using a "jailbroken" set-top box, visiting a pirating website or peer-to-peer BitTorrenting. So if you're one of the 40% of Americans who are pirates, beware! The law is coming for you. Arrrrr!
9. KERV Interactive, the AI-powered digital advertising platform, has added some amazing new capabilities to its interactive products for connected TV (CTV) and online video. The platform can
now identify objects in video and correlate them with multiple existing product feed integrations in real time to determine whether the object/product is being offered at the lowest available price. This is an amazing breakthrough for the digital advertising industry and will revolutionize the way that brands and advertisers interact with consumers. The possibilities are endless! For example, imagine you're watching a cooking show and you see a chef using a particular brand of knife. With KERV's
new capabilities, you could now instantly see whether that knife is being offered at the lowest price by any retailer. Or, let's say you're watching a sports game and you see a player wearing a pair of shoes that you like. With KERV, you could now see which retailers have those shoes in stock and at what price
10. On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, ending his efforts to quash Dominion
Voting Systems’ $1.3-billion defamation lawsuit against him.
Dominion sued the right-wing bedding purveyor/Donald Trump supporter in February 2021, claiming that he caused billions in damage to the voting machine company through his false claims that Dominion helped rig the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Lindell responded by trying to get the case thrown out on various grounds, all of which were rejected by lower courts.
11.Netflix is now expected to pull in $700 million in U.S. and Canadian advertising revenue, growing to $1.7 billion by 2025, driven by its new, ad-supported service set to launch by the end of this year, according to MoffettNathanson Research -- higher than its previous estimates.
This will be driven by eight million U.S. and Canadian subscribers in 2023 -- growing to 14 million in 2025. With Netflix's new
ad-supported service, viewers can expect to see more commercials, not just for other Netflix shows but for external products as well. So get your popcorn ready and your fast-forward finger at the ready -- it's going to be a bumpy ride.
12. If you thought in-game advertising was bad now, just wait until 2030. That's when the global in-game ad market is forecast to hit $17.6 billion, with a CAGR of 11%. That's according to a new report
published by Allied Market Research. The report predicts that demand for in-game advertising will continue to grow, driven by the growth of the gaming industry and the increasing use of mobile devices. However, the report also notes that the in-game ad market faces challenges, such as ad blocking and privacy concerns. So if you're looking for a way to escape the constant barrage of ads in your favorite games, you might want to invest in a good ad blocker now. Otherwise, you'll be stuck watching
ads for products you'll never use for the rest of your life. Thanks, Allied Market Research!
13. In a class-action complaint filed Friday, Burke Minahan of Minneapolis alleges that Google maintains a record of every video he rented from the platform since 2018, when he first used the company's streaming rental service. The lawsuit, which seeks unspecified damages, alleges that Google violated Minnesota's consumer privacy law by
collecting and storing this information without Minahan's consent. According to the complaint, Google's actions caused Minahan "embarrassment, humiliation, and loss of enjoyment of life." This is not the first time Google has been accused of invasion of privacy; in 2010, the company was fined $25 million for collecting personal data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks. However, this is the first time a state privacy law has been used to sue the tech giant. The case will likely hinge on whether the
court finds that Google's collection of streaming data constitutes a violation of Minnesota's consumer privacy statute.