Millennials Spend Serious Dollars On Media

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Given that millennials grew up at a point in history where pirating music and films was a casual affair, it’s a wonder that consultancy Deloitte is predicting that the age group is looking to spend about $62 billion on entertainment as a whole this year. That includes TV, music, film, gaming and everything else under the sun. In fact, Deloitte says that’s more spend than the size Internet ad market.

“The reality is that millennials are spending less on traditional media than they did in the past, and less than older generations, but they are still spending,” Deloitte says in the report.

With 83 million millennials in the United States and Canada, the average person in this group is spending about $750 each. Pay TV is still the spendiest expense for millennials, although increasingly they are opting to cut the cord. Music is the second priority for millennials with computer games not too far behind.

“Millennials will likely continue to spend heavily on tech hardware and telecom services, but it may come at the expense of media and content spending. They will still spend on content, but may be choosier and more-price sensitive than young audiences in the past,” says Deloitte.

Dailymotion Launches Its Own Live Streaming Gaming Platform

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By: Jessica Klein

Dailymotion is looking to take on Twitch with the launch of Dailymotion Games, a new live-streaming platform for gaming creators and fans.

Available at games.dailymotion.com and powered by the company’s video player and live-streaming technology, the new platform allows users to create, distribute, and share live gameplay streams. Monetization is also available via ads, which Dailymotion says users have control over.

Viewer-centric features include search, recommendations, and real-time chatting, video recommendations.

Read more…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

 

Now Hiring! Amazon, Pinterest, And More Marketing Jobs For January 14th

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[a]listdaily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings.

Meeting unexpectedly cancelled Here are some tips for managing that surprise free time around the office.

  • Amazon – Head of Consumer Marketing (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Pinterest – Strategic Partner Manager (Chicago, Ill.)
  • Intel – Global Social Campaign Manager (Hillsboro, Ore.)
  • Cloud Imperium – Marketing Director (Santa Monica, Calif.)

For last week’s [a]list jobs postings, click here. Have a position you’d like to place with us Email us at pr@ayzenberg.com.

CREATIVE: The Most Powerful Images Of 2014

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Iconic images say everything about a time and place, a feeling. For their annual “Year In Focus,” Getty Images decided to turn the tables and ask the world which images were most moving in 2014. To get the word out, Getty Images shared some of these incredible images on their social channels, naturally leveraging Instagram to engage shutterbugs.

Getty Images has now wrapped up the campaign with an immersive digital experience and a final top 10 chosen by all. Take a look at the results in the video below that turns the campaign into literal moving pictures.

Why Brands Need To Read This Teen’s Take On Social Media

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With the vast number of social networks and messaging services available today, it’s very easy to get lost amongst the crowd, losing important perspective in the process.

A new editorial by University of Texas at Austin undergraduate Andrew Watts breaks down a number of such services, all while including his thoughts and opinions on each as a Net-savvy teenager.

On Facebook

  • Facebook is seen as “dead” to Watts and his peers, like “something we all got in middle school because it was cool but now is seen as an awkward family dinner party we can’t really leave.”
  • Watts is careful to point out, however, that Facebook’s ubiquity (if you don’t have Facebook, that’s even more weird and annoying”) and extremely popular Messenger app keep it in his demographic’s relatively good graces.

On Instagram

  • Watts names Instagram as the most important social network for his age group, calling it the “most used” network as time is spent on Facebook, but the lion’s share of content is actually posted to Instagram.
  • Watts portrays Instagram as less annoying than Facebook, in part because his friends do not post “10000 times a day”; perhaps most importantly, he notes there are no links on Instagram, meaning he is not “being constantly spammed by the same advertisement, horrible gossip news article, or Buzzfeed listicle”.

On Twitter

  • Most teenagers, Watts explains, “do not understand the point” of Twitter.
  • Aside from a few groups of people using it to complain about school, Watts says, there are not many reasons to use it.
  • Yik Yak, on the other hand, is mentioned as an extremely popular short update-sharing service, likely on account of its anonymity.

On Snapchat and Tumblr

  • Snapchat and Tumblr are given special mention by Watts as sorts of judgement-free zones lending themselves to less stress than Facebook or Twitter thanks to a lack of follower counts in Snapchat’s case and anonymity on Tumblr.
  • Watts sees both as being particularly “alluring” on the strength of these factors and their ease of use.

 

Kabam Acquires New Studios, Prepares L.A. Location

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We’ve previously talked about how Los Angeles is slowly but surely becoming the place for digital studios to emerge, whether it’s for game development or for some other means of virtual occupancy. Now, it appears that Kabam is joining the party, promising to open up a new studio after adding two more companies to its folds.

Re/code has reported that the free-to-play gaming company has acquired two gaming studios based in Los Angeles, TapZen and Magic Pixel. With these pick-ups, the company is set to open up a new Los Angeles-based studio to house them both, and get to work on new projects.

With the opening of this office, which will be closer to Culver City but still close enough to Los Angeles’ business district, Kabam continues to show its interest in the area, already working with a number of movie studios on big name franchises, including The Fast and the Furious and The Hobbit – both which continue to be quite relevant with new movie releases either in theaters (The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies) or headed that way (Furious 7).

Both of the studios acquired are small but steady when it comes to business. TapZen previously only worked on one game, the 2014 release This Means War, although it’s gained a fair amount of popularity since its release. Magic Pixel’s been around for a little while longer, working on a number of independent PlayStation titles, as well as the mobile game Stick To It.

This Means War has managed to stay in the top 250 grossing apps across various countries for both iOS and Android, but Magic Pixel’s success hasn’t been so great, as its latest release, the card battle game Outcast Odyssey, only stayed in the top 250 for a short while.

As part of the deal, TapZen CEO and former Zynga chief creative officer Mike Verdu will join Kabam’s team of executives, although his specific role hasn’t been named just yet. However, Kent Wakeford, the chief operating officer for Kabam, told VentureBeat, “On the one hand, we are striving for leadership. Mike Verdu is one of the industry’s greats. He has had success in console games, social and now mobile. Those are rare people who have made that successful transition.”

Wakeford added, “We have had success in working with Hollywood studios, translating their iconic intellectual properties to mobile. So for us, building an office with senior leadership on the ground in the heart of the entertainment capital is important.”

Verdu had plenty to say as well. “Joining Kabam was an opportunity we could not pass up,” he said in a released statement. “I’ve been impressed at how Kabam has quickly become a leader in the free-to-play games space, and I look forward to helping the team drive the evolution of mobile games into the next generation.”

Magic Pixel’s co-founder Michael Seegers added, “Kabam has a proven track record of bringing awesome strategy games to global audiences. We are thrilled to become a part of their team and bring our talents to an even bigger stage.”

This will no doubt make Los Angeles an even more likely city to thrive with digital content and game releases. Congrats to all involved!

‘Minecraft: Pocket Edition’ Notches 30 Million Downloads

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Mojang’s Minecraft is no stranger to setting sales records, as it’s already sold millions of units across the board for PC, as well as consoles – which probably stood out as the key reason Microsoft acquired the studio for a record sum last year. That said, it looks like the mobile version of the game is an unstoppable beast in itself.

MCV UK has reported that Mojang has revealed the download numbers for Minecraft: Pocket Edition, which is currently available for iOS and Android as a premium app download. The game has downloaded more than 30 million times, which equates to big money since it usually sells for around $4.99-$6.99 per copy.

In addition, the game has managed to pass the one million concurrent PC users point for the first time ever, with the number currently peaking at 1.4 million. That’s a huge number, although not surprising given the game’s addictive nature of building things, either alone or alongside friends.

Mojang also revealed an interesting statistic when it came to reaching the one million point. Half the players involved were taking part in a single player session, while the other half were engaging in multiplayer, either building things with friends or competing in some other activity.

These are big numbers for Mojang, and no doubt good news for Microsoft regarding its investment. The one million point for a single game release is a big thing, especially in comparison to Steam’s previously reported numbers of a concurrent user record, standing at 8.5 million gamers at once. The only game that comes close to this on that service is DOTA 2. The MOBA-based game reported that, during peak points, it reaches 900,000 concurrent players at the same time.

Will these numbers continue to rise in 2015 We don’t see why they wouldn’t. After all, Minecraft builders certainly aren’t going to stop now.

App Annie Raises Funds, Launches App Tracking

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App Annie is no stranger to fundraising, as the app-based tracking site has gone through three rounds before where it’s raised significant funds. This time around, however, it’s raised its biggest funds to date.

The site has managed to raise $55 million through a round of Series D funding, secured by existing investors like Sequoia Capital, Greycroft Partners and IDG Capital Partners, as well as Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), according to TechCrunch.

In addition to raising a record amount of funds, the site has also introduced a new product that will assist in tracking data for applications. Called “Usage Intelligence,” the program is in beta now, enabling app publishers, marketers, investors and other industry types to learn more about usage patterns within applications. This is one through data on active users, as well as time spent in applications, usage frequency and user retention.

With this program, App Annie allows for research on individual apps, rather than data shared simply through app stores and top games and other applications.

“Usage Intelligence” has been in development for two years, and is being aimed at enterprise customers in general.

Data collection is done through the distribution of high-quality free applications, including VPN software, according to VentureBeat. With the combination of several of these apps, massive reach is gained, enabling the access of data collected – by those who allow their data to be shared, of course.

Regarding the funding, CEO Bertrand Schmitt told VentureBeat, “We have been very fast-growing, and to keep climbing that fast, you need gas.” He speaks, of course, about the site’s fast-paced success, as it now employs 300 people and has shown an increase in revenue by triple.

“We probably have the engineering capacity of our next five or 10 competitors combined,” explained Schmitt. “This product has been two years in the making…and we plan to keep releasing new products.”

Here’s hoping that the new project brings a number of companies on board – though it helps to have a little cash in hand, since the typical App Annie contract goes for $80,000 yearly.

Free To Play ‘Crossy Road’ Sees Gains With In-Game Ads

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Sometimes, following the formula for free-to-play games can pay off. Just ask the team at Hipster Whale.

The company’s latest mobile release, the Frogger-style arcade game Crossy Road, has managed to generate over $1 million from in-game ads since the game’s launch in November 2014, according to Unity. These ads were separate video pieces that, when watched, awarded players with in-game currency, which could then be turned around to purchase new characters.

$1 million is a staggering amount of money for a game that’s based on a free-to-play basis, only charging players for additional characters featured in the game, including “special chickens,” a walking piggy bank and more. Those purchases have been measured on a separate scale, although no specific numbers were given by the publisher at this time.

The game had been out on iOS for over a month before it finally arrived on Android in time for the holiday season. Thus far, it’s racked up 10 million downloads on iOS, and just over a million on Android over its release weekend.

“We wanted it to be free, so that everyone has a chance to play,” said the game’s co-creator, Matt Hall, speaking with MCV UK. “I thought that video ads were a really good way to earn money without getting into people’s faces. We just needed to figure out a fun reason for players to watch them.

“We didn’t want any consumable purchases, we wanted to do something that everybody could pay a little bit for if they wanted to, but where it wasn’t necessary to keep paying.”

It’s a move that’s certainly paid off, keeping players addicted without pounding or punishing them with necessary purchases to continue onward. And obviously Hipster Whale has benefitted as well, perhaps paving the way for a new business model for companies to adapt with their own free-to-play releases. We’ll see what the year brings as it goes along.

Meanwhile, we’ve got a Road to cross…

Museum Sees Video Games As Works Of Art

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In the past, there have been arguments whether video games qualify as art (the late film critic Roger Ebert has argued that they aren’t), but that hasn’t stopped a select few from celebrating it as such, whether it was through special exhibits at the Smithsonian, or online through a special Tumblr blog. Now, a new exhibit in the Netherlands has its own special exhibit that puts video games on full display.

The New Horizons exhibition, now available at the Fries Museum in Leeuwarden, shows the strength of what video games can do in terms of art, featuring a number of conceptual drawings and special pieces from a number of video games, featuring the work of various artists, including Jennifer Steinbeck, Harun Farocki and Cory Arcangel.

The exhibit, detailed by GamesIndustry International, allows visitors to see their favorite games in a whole new way, with works ranging from such popular releases as Portal and Battlefield 4 (where screenshot-based multiplayer map prints are on display) to more obscure favorites, like Sony’s artful Flower and the first-person adventure Mirror’s Edge.

New Horizons is a tie-in with the annual Next Gen Art Event, which will feature a number of discussions and workshops featuring leading developers, who will no doubt talk about the art style put to work in a number of their games. It’s featured a number of inclusions from such companies as Irrational Games (the creators of the Bioshock franchise), Oddworld Inhabitants and Capcom, among others. More popular companies include Naughty Dog, who contributed its “The Art of Naughty Dog” collection, and BioWare, who has plenty of art from its Mass Effect series on display.

“One thing we’ve always talked about at BioWare is how to get concept art and environmental art in a gallery,” said Derek Watts, art director for the Mass Effect series, speaking with GamesIndustry International.

Mike Lester, systems engineer for Thatgamecompany (the developers of the artful Flower), added that the students and the location really prompted him to take part in the event. “The Netherlands isn’t known for having a particularly large game dev community, and I like the idea of starting at the student level to help get it going.

“I liked being able to connect with the students,” he concluded. “I feel like they really heard my message.”

More details about the exhibit, and GamesIndustry‘s visit to it, can be found here.