TV Ad Spend Grew In January Despite Digital Domination

Digital advertising revenue experienced double-digit growth in January, but TV held its own thanks to entertainment award shows like The Grammys.

The US ad market grew 10.8 percent in January 2018 compared to January 2017, according to a new report by Standard Media Index. Growth was driven by significant gains in National Television and digital platforms. Other ad mediums didn’t fare as well in January. Radio declined 6.1 percent, out of home went down 2.1 percent and print dropped 3 percent year over year.

It’s not surprising to hear that digital advertising is still on the rise, growing 16.8 percent year over year in January. Digital ad spend has been on a steady increase of around 12 percent since October. Social media saw the largest growth last month at 42 percent overall. Facebook and Twitter saw the most ad revenue growth in January at 55 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

National TV grew 7.1 percent year over year, with 11.1 percent growth in Cable and 2.7 percent in Broadcast. Scatter TV volume—ads purchased outside of Upfronts—saw a 50 percent increase over January 2017, thanks in part to the timing of entertainment award ceremonies. Several college football games and the annual Grammy Awards were both moved to January, which certainly helped. Standard Media Index notes that even without these events, underlying growth was still 5.3 percent.

The Grammys, excluding red carpet coverage, earned $61 Million in ad revenue for CBS, according to the report. This was 3.8 percent increase from last year. CBS reported a 40 percent increase in unique viewers of the show’s live stream over 2017. Despite 24 percent lower viewership overall, the cost of a 30-second spot increased 11.8 percent for the 2018 Grammys.

Riding high on public awareness of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood, the 75th Annual Golden Globes saw a 7.1 percent increase in ad revenue over last year, exceeding $32 million. A five percent drop in viewership didn’t stop a five percent increase in average cost for ad space.

“We see that even though audiences are falling, pricing for these major events continues to increase,” Standard Media Index CEO James Fennessy said alongside the findings. “We expect to see this trend continue as our research shows an impressive return for advertisers that support live programming. Premium video continues to be the powerhouse of ROAS and, given the fragmentation of audiences and safety issues on other mediums, this won’t change anytime soon.”

The automotive industry was the biggest ad spender on National TV last month, despite dropping three percent compared to January 2017. Insurance companies came in second in terms of spending and spent 22 percent more year over year. Rounding out the top five for National TV ad spending are Prescription Pharmaceuticals, Quick Service Restaurants and Food, Produce & Dairy with the largest spend in 2017. Standard Media Index predicts that advertising revenue for National TV will grow 1.6 percent in the first quarter, excluding the Winter Games.

Branded Video Engagement On Facebook Driven By Food And TV In 2017

Branded video engagements on Facebook increased by nearly a third in the last quarter, according to a new report by Shareablee. Ranging from do-it-yourself instructional videos to comedy, the findings show that even relatively new brands can drive engagement on the platform.

BuzzFeed, driven primarily by its Tasty brand, ranked as the top branded video creator on Facebook in 2017 with 11.6 million engagements. Turner ranked number two with 11.2 million engagements, per Shareablee.

The top 50 media companies generated more than 35,000 total branded videos on Facebook and 96 million branded video engagements in the fourth quarter of 2017—an increase of 29 percent year-over-year.

BuzzFeed, Turner and Group Nine Media (The Dodo, Thrillist, Seeker, NowThis) drove 33 percent of all views for branded content videos posted on Facebook by the top 50 US publishers. Tasty and Group Nine Media were both founded in 2016, illustrating how new brands can engage Facebook users on a massive scale.

TV networks attracted the highest increase in engagement, with a 79 percent jump year-over-year in the fourth quarter. Adult Swim ranked number one with 2.3 million video engagements, followed by Food Network with 1.6 million. Turner’s Adult Swim, Food Network, HGTV, MTV and ESPN were the top TV networks on Facebook.

“Branded video, published socially, is rapidly becoming one of the most important new advertising formats for marketers to reach and influence their customer,” said Tania Yuki Shareablee founder and CEO in a statement. “This is particularly true in a changing landscape when it comes to how content is prioritized on Facebook.”

Engagements are defined as reactions, shares and comments. The study did not mention how many branded videos were promoted through paid advertisements.

Facebook rolled out its big News Feed algorithm change last month that prioritizes friends and family. The move continues to whittle away organic reach for brands while rewarding those who create meaningful interactions.

Users spent 50 million fewer hours a day on Facebook after the latest News Feed change, the company reported. Time will tell how the change will impact branded videos on the platform, especially in terms of organic reach. Last year, Facebook delivered the best ROI across mobile devices alongside Google.

Tencent Backing Skydance Is A Case Study For Western Marketers

With the Chinese government’s clampdown on foreign investment on entertainment, Tencent’s investment into Skydance Media becomes a prominent deal. The conglomerate took a minority stake in the Western media brand, and the investment represents a broader strategic partnership that includes the opportunity for Tencent to co-finance films while marketing and distributing merchandise in China.

How Tencent Benefits

Although Tencent’s interest may be in growing the global reach of its film division, the company can also support TV, video game and VR projects with Skydance—like the brand’s Netflix exclusive, Altered Carbon, which premiered in February.

“Our strategy is to create content natively in one division that can cross over into one or both of the other divisions, giving fans multiple touchpoints in which to experience and interact with Skydance content,” Jesse Sisgold, president and COO for Skydance Media, told AListDaily.

Sisgold also said that Tencent will have the opportunity to partner on Skydance projects on a “first-look” basis, which may include the upcoming Mission Impossible: Fallout and the next Terminator film along with all-new projects.

Although the primary goal will be to develop content for global audiences, Sisgold said that Skydance is “very open-minded” in pursuing co-productions with Tencent that appeal mainly to the Chinese market. He added that a Chinese production would be the type of project where the “story and characters authentically call for production and key elements out of China.”

Newzoo market consultant Tom Wijman explains that Tencent benefits from the fact that Skydance owns the rights to popular franchises that include Star Trek, G.I. Joe, World War Z, Top Gun and others, contributing to nearly $5 billion in worldwide box office.

How Skydance Benefits

It’s not uncommon for popular Western franchises to have large followings in China, but Tencent’s marketing through its QQ and WeChat, the dominant Chinese social platforms, and its expertise of the market, may strengthen them even further.

“So much more is handled online in China than here,” said Sisgold, comparing the Chinese market with Western ones. “This allows an effective distributor in China to leverage large amounts of consumer data and habits, and as a result employ a more focused and efficient marketing conversation directly with the project’s likely consumer—versus the scorched earth approach that often occurs with billboards, TV commercials, etc., here.”

The partnership allows Skydance to leverage Tencent’s unmatched presence in the Asian market. Given Tencent’s online ticketing platforms, social messaging apps and online video platforms, the impact of its promotion “can be instant and massive,” according to Sisgold.

“If they really activate all relevant tools at their disposal, they can go beyond really anything we experience here for a fraction of the cost,” said Sisgold.

Affirming the importance of the Chinese market, Sisgold also said it’s important to have a local partner to be effective.

“Their well-established network and massive reach among online consumers combined with their fan base around game publishing and social media responds well to our tentpole, sci-fi adventure productions,” said Sisgold. “In addition, it has valuable know-how to publish, market, and distribute films in the Chinese market.”

In exchange for its distribution strength, Tencent is complemented by Skydance’s experience producing and financing feature films, according to Sisgold. But the relationship has the potential to extend past movies, since Skydance also produces video game and VR content, with a zombie-themed World War Z game expected to release later this year. The company released Archangel, its first entry into VR, last summer.

Given Tencent’s extensive investments in the gaming space, which is documented in the Discovery Channel’s film Game Vision, Skydance’s interactive titles could benefit greatly from the partnership. At the same time, Tencent can license IPs from Skydance for its upcoming games.

“Backing from Tencent means that any Skydance product is guaranteed to be featured on QQ and/or WeChat,” Wijman explained. “Any interactive game Skydance might publish definitely has the potential to be featured there as well.”

Advances In Stadium Technology Are Opening Doors For Marketers

When it comes to stadiums, marketers have historically been limited—think Jumbotron messaging with LED ribbons or static images.

But with floods of event-friendly technological innovations and 60-plus new major sports stadiums set to open between now and 2020 around the world, more brands have opportunities to build marketing strategies to reach fans through far more innovative ways.

First, there are brand activations that directly benefit consumers—including ways to use tech to sponsor seamless logistics to the purchasing process of getting to the venue, finding the shortest line, best food options, merchandise delivery to seats and live in-game updates around scores and stats.

 Josh Veilleux, vice president of global partnerships for AEG, which owns the Staples Center in Los Angeles and the 02 Arena in England, said that marketers have to look at what’s going to enhance the consumer’s experience.

“We want sponsorships and activations to improve the stadium experience for fans, but we don’t want it to overwhelm them,” Veilleux said. “If they can provide value to the fans in a genuine way that either saves them time, increases their knowledge of the sport or event while viewing or takes them into the action, they’ll be able to reach the fans in a meaningful way.”

While in-stadium marketing is traditionally the realm of major beverage, food, entertainment and sports brands, there are also opportunities for non-endemic companies.

Last month, Impact, an Illinois-based company in the business-process optimization sector, opened a branded restaurant, in the main concourse of Staples Center. As a sponsor, Impact is looking to use the comprehensive marketing partnership and multi-year agreement to build brand recognition with key decision makers in Southern California who frequent the iconic venue.

“The marketing value lies in the name recognition that Impact will receive in the Los Angeles market,” said Don Duvall, Impact’s vice president of business development. “It is better for our sales rep to walk into an account and have the client know who you are, and having our name on the restaurant will do that.”

For mass-consumption brands like Coca-Cola, which can easily represent at global events like the 2018 Winter Olympics, the fan experience in the venue is a very small part of their marketing strategy.

According to Ricardo Fort, VP of global sports partnerships for Coca-Cola, the brand benefits a lot more from sponsorships when it takes the message of what happens inside its venues and broadcasts it outward to as many people as possible. For example, the brand positions Coke Music TV to broadcast livestreams of music artists curated by the brand.

“We have marketing initiatives of how we serve consumers in stadiums, but in general, the vast majority of our efforts goes to whoever else is not there,” said Fort. “As a fan and as a marketer, it’s very interesting to see the capabilities. But things like VR and AR, things that can be experienced outside of the venue, are more meaningful for us than how we pay or get served inside of a venue.”

Although having a fan’s favorite player or celebrity usher them to their seat through a hologram may be cool, Cara Vanderhook, vice president of marketing and communications for Staples Center and Microsoft Theater, prefers more old-school marketing strategies. She said activations that resonate most with consumers are the ones where fans walk away with something tangible. In return, the advertiser gets more eyes on their brand as guests travel throughout the event with a physical item.

Vanderhook said these opportunities can overwhelm some. “It requires advertisers taking the time to get creative and determine the best way to push that information to consumers,” she said. “With the proper research and technology, it can be effective.”

Robert Vartan, who oversees corporate partnership sales and development for the MLS franchise Los Angeles Galaxy, said the evolving stadium experience for fans varies by property, but holistically should provide marketers with more customized and unique touchpoints to communicate their marque, mission, tagline and products.

“Any opportunity to align with a positive, lasting emotion is an invaluable asset to any sports and entertainment marketer,” said Vartan. “The future is not telling the fan how the brand will serve them—but actually showing them.”

For marketers, it’s ultimately important to know when to be reactive to an audience or proactively push beyond fans’ expectations.

“Auditing every aspect of your game-day and event-day experience is the first key,” said Vartan. “Becoming your own secret shopper and immersing in the everyday fan’s perspective will provide great results and insight.”

‘Tomb Raider’ Continues Warner Bros. Embrace Of Virtual Reality Marketing

Warner Bros has released a VR tie-in experience for the upcoming Tomb Raider film called “Lara’s Escape.” The free VR experience debuted Tuesday for Oculus Rift and continues Warner Bros.’ ongoing trend of using VR to promote its theatrical releases.

In terms of movie marketing, Warner Bros. has been an active player in the VR space, offering tie-ins for films including Suicide Squad, Justice League, Blade Runner 2049 and IT. The studio is also tapping into the growing escape room market with a branded experience at Escape Hotel Los Angeles February 22 to March 24—that experience, in partnership with IMAX, will drop guests into a tomb in which they must escape in the time allotted.

The upcoming film is loosely based on the 2013 reboot of the popular video game franchise, in which Lara Croft embarks on her first adventure. Croft’s backstory has changed several times over the history of the video game series since its first title launched in 1996, so fans shouldn’t be surprised if it changes once again for the movie.

Warner Bros. Tomb Raider movie marketing is banking on the popularity of Square Enix’s iconic character as well as the star power of Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina). Lara Croft—Tomb Raider’s titular character—is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recognized video game character.

Tomb Raider movie marketing kicked off full swing in January with #TombRaiderTuesday—releasing new teasers and announcements each Tuesday until the movie premieres on March 16. Previous posts have included interviews with actress Alicia Vikander and inviting Instagram followers to vote for their favorite Lara Croft weapon.

“Tomb Raider: Lara’s Escape” challenges users to survive a trap-filled tomb armed with only a bow and climbing axe. The trailer offers a brief glimpse of using Lara’s bow to slide down a rope. In the style of an escape room, users embody Lara Croft as they explore the tomb with a flashlight, then use their limited tools to climb out.

At least Warner Bros. has brand recognition on their side, riding high on the game’s 20th anniversary. The studio has a reputation to uphold, however. Despite its campiness and mixed ratings, the original 2001 Tomb Raider film starring Angelina Jolie is still the top-grossing video game movie in the US.

PlayStation’s ‘Opera’ Campaign Conjures Emotion For PS4 Pro Graphics

Launching Thursday, PlayStation’s “Opera” campaign describes the experience of playing video games on PS4 Pro through the use of opera, lending itself to a TV spot as well as other activations.

Since 4K graphics have to be seen first-hand to understand the difference—and not everyone who sees the ad will have a 4K TV—PlayStation decided to have some fun describing the experience instead.

The spot opens on a man playing video games on his PS4 Pro. As his face reflects the wonder in what he’s experiencing, we hear opera singer Adelmo Guidarelli‘s bass-baritone voice describe it to the tune of “Largo al factotum,” more commonly known as “Figaro.”

“PS4 Pro, dynamic 4K,” Guidarelli sings over footage of God of War, Far Cry 5, Monster Hunter: World, and MLB The Show 18. “So beautiful, can’t look away.” As the song reaches its crescendo, the gamer is surprised to realize that the opera singer is singing in the player’s living room.

“We thought that the contrast between opera singing, which is typically quite serious, and gaming, which is creative and fun, made for a hilarious moment where the gamer and the singer meet in a normal living room,” Mary Yee, VP of marketing for PlayStation told AListDaily. “We also liked the contrast of the big theatrical vibe of the opera singing and the everyday hero who is our gamer [and] we thought the irreverent script was a fun way to tell an otherwise rather technical story about PS4 Pro screen resolution.”

“Opera” is considered part of PlayStation’s ongoing “Greatness Awaits” campaign—highlighting the emotions associated with gaming rather than focusing on gameplay alone. Yee says PlayStation’s marketing strategy is rooted in that emotional connection, as it taps into how passionate gamers can be.

“We try to tell compelling and relatable human stories in all that we do,” said Yee. “As marketers, we strive to make content and stories in service of our audience and fans.”

Though PlayStation’s marketing team thought the “Opera” campaign would be fun, the entertainment brand doesn’t choose its campaign strategies lightly.

“We are constantly testing and measuring our marketing campaigns,” Yee said. “We use gamer feedback as a key input. That said, we also hold ourselves accountable to our brand belief and core tenets of the PlayStation brand.”

Yee describes that brand belief as “Great play can inspire us to be our most creative, ambitious and extraordinary selves.”

PlayStation often employs visuals to simulate emotional experiences while playing video games. The brand’s recent PSVR campaign called “Feel Them All,” for example, employs imagery like a beating heart, goosebumps and a dilating iris to illustrate “feeling” a video game rather than just playing it.

EA Commissioner Explains Rise of FIFA Esports

This weekend, the best FIFA 17 players from around the globe are in Berlin competing for a piece of the $400,000 cash prize, including $160,000 first place purse. Over six million players competed in the FIFA FUT Champions Weekend League since the launch of FIFA 17, to secure one of the 192 live qualifications for the Season 1 and Season 2 Regional Finals. After six regional events, the top 32 players flew to Germany to crown a champion in the inaugural FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Series. Overall, $1.3 million will have been awarded through this series by this weekend.

The competition has been broadcast on YouTubeTwitch and Facebook, but the Finals will be broadcast across top sports networks around the world including ESPN, BT Sport, Movistar, MTG, and SPORT1, bringing competitive FIFA to more than 70 countries and millions of living rooms around the world. In the U.S., ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes will air the competition live on May 20 at 11 am EST. ESPN2 will air an exclusive pregame show at 10:30 am EST.

Brent Koning, FIFA Competitive Gaming Commissioner, told AListDaily that this new competition is the evolution of EA Sports’ FIFA franchise as an esport.

“Competitive FIFA has existed years before the FIFA Ultimate Team Championship Series was created, but it was very fragmented with concurrent tournaments, multiple winners, rule differences between tournaments,” Koning explained. “With the EA Competitive Gaming Division, along with the valuable support of FIFA, we’ve been able to consolidate tournaments, optimize the organizational structure and cultivate rapid growth. Competitive FIFA today is now mainstream entertainment – we’re talking millions of competitors, millions of spectators, mainstream sports broadcasts and more. It is amazing.”

Koning added that the ultimate goal for this competition was to move competitive FIFA into the mainstream across the globe. The FIFA Ultimate Team Championship will be watchable on mainstream sports broadcasts in roughly 70 percent of the FIFA player base’s home markets.

“We’re attracting not only millions of players, but millions of spectators as well,” Koning said. “To make competitive FIFA mainstream, you must capture a large, casual fan base who are already familiar with the sport of soccer’s rule sets. The best way to do this is to bring competitive FIFA to top-tier sports television – ESPN, BT Sport and more. We’re accomplishing this with the FIFA Ultimate Team Championship.”

More than six million players have competed in FUT Champions and thousands have played in the live events to get down to the top 32 video gamers. Konig said this inaugural series has taught him that community is king.

“They have been very supportive of competitive FIFA, and we are always looking for better ways to integrate content, showcase players, and make competitive FIFA more fun to watch and play,” Koning said.

Koning said the upcoming season of competitive FIFA will add brands and sponsors to the competition.

“With the goal of making stars of all of our players, we know we need to give them opportunities to compete, and that happens when you bring endemic and non-endemic brands into the fold,” Koning said. “Our goal is to make sure that we maintain a high level of competition, production quality, and create enough opportunity to support aspiring pros, our current pros, and drive the eco-system forward into the future.”

While the majority of esports games appeal to a global audience, FIFA crosses over with mainstream soccer (or football) fans worldwide. It’s easy to follow, and translates well to television broadcasts.

The extensive history of FIFA esports, coupled with the learnings of the EA Competitive Gaming Division with other titles, has helped in building out this new competitive series.

“Sharing best practices is important for any new team, be it at a large company like EA or a startup,” Koning explained. “I work with the central teams and other Commissioners at EA (for Madden and Battlefield) to make sure we are learning from each other, sharing successes and locating areas for improvement. We are lucky at EA to have a dedicated central team focused on implementing best practices across teams who speak to each other regularly. I don’t think you have the opportunity for collaboration as easily accessible in most companies.”

EA also has a longstanding relationship with FIFA. Koning said that organization sees the importance of esports and competitive gaming in soccer culture and it allows EA to work together with FIFA towards the common goal of spreading the love of soccer and competition worldwide.

Established soccer clubs like Manchester City, West Ham United and VFL Wolfsburg have invested in FIFA esports players, while Valencia launched a Rocket League team and Schalke bought a League of Legends roster.

“The level of integration varies by club, but is undoubtedly a way for them to engage with a younger, digitally-native demographic in a clean and low barrier of entry way,” Koning said. “At the end of the day, you put a ball in a net. That is universal.”

The Show Must Go On: TV Marketing Through Tie-In Games

What do TV audiences do when the show is over? Brands are keeping fans engaged through tie-in video games.

Fans of The Walking Dead who also play the official mobile game, No Man’s Land, can unlock weekly content that directly ties into the seventh season. In a real-time partnership between developer Next Games and AMC, fans will be able to unlock exclusive weekly content in the game that features new playable characters as they appear on the show bonus themes, special cuts and behind-the-scenes videos.

For The Walking Dead: Road to Survival tie-in mobile game, Scopely put influencers in the game to amplify promotion. Partnering with superfans PockySweets from Japan and MatPat (The Film Theorists) from the US, Scopely and Skybound gained the benefit of tens of millions of YouTube fans worldwide in addition to their own.

“A successful branded game needs to innovate in design and features to reach beyond the core and attract new fans,” Jamie Berger, VP of Marketing at Scopely told AListDaily. “If you are a fan of the comics and download Road to Survival because it’s a Walking Dead game that’s great. If you then join an in-game faction and recruit a friend of yours who may only be a casual fan of the IP then you are able to create sustainable growth within the existing audience.”

Netflix has fans on the run with an 8-bit arcade in which players can assume the role of one of four characters from popular Netflix shows like Stranger ThingsOrange Is The New BlackMarco Polo or Narcos. The game, playable online, challenges users to navigate their respective character through environments related to theirs, jumping to avoid enemies and collecting items like frozen waffles (Stranger Things) or roosters (Orange Is The New Black).

recent study by Deep Focus found that 84 percent of Gen Z respondents browse an internet-connected device while watching TV. In fact, those ages 18-to-24 spend nearly 19.5 hours on apps or the internet through a smartphone each week.

Game of Thrones: A Telltale Series took place between seasons three and five, and Prison Break: Conspiracy was a prequel to the award-winning show.

Tie-in games open new marketing avenues and enhance the viewing experience, bridging gaps between seasons while attracting new fans, especially when friends invite them to play.

‘The Martian VR Experience’ Is One Big Leap For Twentieth Century Fox

After multiple delays, Fox Innovation Lab launched The Martian VR Experience for PlayStation VR and HTC Vive on November 15. The $20 experience was created by RSA Films and The Virtual Reality Company, executive produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Robert Stromberg. The interactive experience was built using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 technology and marks the first public release from the Fox Innovation Lab.

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Fox Innovation Lab president, Mike Dunn, told [a]listdaily that The Martian VR Experience blurs the line between games and movies. “Games are bringing more emotion to gameplay and we’re bringing some interactivity to our film VR experiences,” Dunn said.

Following the plot of Scott’s Oscar-nominated film, users can interact with the surface of Mars, steer at zero gravity through space, drive a rover across the red planet and play basketball with potatoes in a variety of mini-games as a virtual Mark Watney. The experience uses footage from the film starring Matt Damon to connect these interactive elements.

Dunn said the Fox Innovation Lab first explored virtual reality with a Wild 360-degree experience from Felix and Paul Studios featuring Reese Witherspoon. “We did a test shoot on Wild and proved to our studio and creative execs that VR can be a narrative emotional experience,” Dunn said. “The Martian matched the target early adopter VR audience and we felt we could take them to Mars in a new way.”

Robert Stromberg, co-founder and chief creative officer of The Virtual Reality Company, explained to [a]listdaily that multiple companies were involved in the development of this experience. “It’s still a new frontier of where everybody is jostling for all of these answers on how to make VR work,” he said. “We worked with the Q Department for sound and The Third Floor for the game controls. You have to have the right companies and specialties in a specific order, just as you would put together production on a film.”

Stromberg said additional mini-games were added to the experience after the positive reception they received. Dunn also added that the team targeted a 25-30 minute experience that is broken up into interactive segments, which can be replayed. “We weren’t sure if consumers would be comfortable in headsets more than 25-30 minutes at that time,” Dunn said.

The goal was always to create a VR experience that could be sold directly to consumers. “Some of the other studios are focused on the marketing angle of VR, but we wanted to create a commercial experience and help to shape the marketplace,” Dunn said.

The Martian VR Experience, which debuted at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), was accepted into the prestigious New Frontier Program at Sundance and is the recipient of the Cannes Silver Lion in Digital Craft as well as the Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Next VR Award. The VR experience missed the theatrical window as well as two home entertainment windows, in part, because the hardware wasn’t ready. Now that PS VR has launched, The Martian VR Experience is available across two platforms.

The Fox Innovation Lab did release a non-interactive teaser of The Martian VR Experience on Samsung Gear VR, which became one of the most-watched VR experiences on that platform.

“For future products, we’d like to have a mobile experience that could be played untethered,” Dunn said. “We’re very bullish on the expansion of mobile VR.”

The Fox Innovation Lab was established to drive the advancement of groundbreaking technology and new consumer experiences across all platforms and distribution models. The Lab works closely with production, marketing and distribution across all Twentieth Century Fox divisions as well as key external partners to advance next generation technologies including 4K Ultra HD with high dynamic range, mobile content experiences, and virtual, augmented and mixed reality, all featuring immersive audio.

The Fox Innovation Lab also serves as a research hub, demonstrating and testing technologies with consumers throughout the development process to obtain qualitative data and hands-on feedback in order to bring innovative and premium products to market. Dunn said that all current VR, AR and mixed reality platforms, as well as some future platforms, are tested inside the lab.

“The idea behind the lab is to get out in front of media on the horizon and actually partake in those media,” Dunn said. “We started very early with VR, and we hope that we’ll be out in front of that media in terms of knowledge and production capabilities, and also introduce established and upcoming filmmakers in that media.”

Dunn believes the key filmmakers participating in VR today are going to try to push the emotional boundaries of storytelling. “At first, entering VR as more like a video game, but talking with Stromberg and Felix and Paul, they’re going to bring emotion to this medium. It’s an art form, nevertheless, and these guys have game.”

Additionally, the lab is working with filmmakers across North America, Europe and China. “There are a lot of filmmakers very interested in this medium,” Dunn said.

GameStop CEO Discusses Nintendo NX, New Consoles And VR

GameStop is undergoing a retail transition as it expands its ThinkGeek footprint, doubles down on independent game publishing through GameTrust, and continues to develop original mobile and social games through Kongregate. But the retailer remains focused on its core business of selling new and used games, as is evident with its new TV and online push for pre-owned games through its “Goat” campaign.

At the recent GameStop Investors Day in Dallas, we sat down with GameStop CEO Paul Raines to talk about new game consoles, Nintendo’s mobile play, and how important retail is for virtual reality platforms in this exclusive interview.

What role do you see new consoles from Sony and Microsoft playing for GameStop?

We expect to be pretty dominant on new consoles, and the reason we’re dominant is because we have the PowerUp Rewards program with 46 million members around the world. We have those people on file, and we know how much trade credit they have at home that they bought from us. So it’s easy to market to them and say, “Hey Mr. Gaudiosi, you’ve got $48. Why don’t you bring that in and trade it against the new Xbox or PlayStation?” So we anticipate that we’ll see some new consoles in the next few years. We don’t like to talk about that because our partners get upset if we jump ahead, so we’ll let them disclose that. Consoles are good for us any way you slice it.

Are you seeing excitement through PowerUp Rewards members around the Nintendo NX?

There is some excitement around NX. Lately here, we’ve been hearing a lot more buzz than we have in the past. Nintendo is interesting in that they really are able to keep things as quiet as they can for a while. And then they just lost their leader, so they’ve gone through a mourning period and so forth. NX sounds exciting. We’re looking forward to it. They’re very innovative in everything that they do. I hope that they come out with something exciting and innovative. I think we’ll be dominant distributor of that platform.

Even though the Wii U didn’t repeat the Wii’s success?

Wii U was disappointing to everybody, including them. They made some bold bets, and maybe some of them didn’t work out. But they have a lot of creativity there. They’re a very innovative group of people, so we never count out Nintendo. Even now it’s incredible how strong some of their IP is—Pokémon, for example. We could have a Pokémon weekend this weekend at GameStop and we would break sales records just because every time they put out a new game they have a very loyal fan base. Super Mario, Zelda, all those IPs have a huge, loyal fan base.

That fan base is going to potentially get bigger with their mobile reach. Do you think Nintendo mobile games will get new fans interested in other Nintendo products?

Yeah, there are a lot of people who have never played a Super Mario game on a DS. A lot of the kids today have grown up only playing small games on their phones. As you introduce that exciting Nintendo IP and those characters, they’re going to want more of that. We think that will push them into our stores to see the big games. They’ll go, “Wow, there’s actually a game I can play for months and months instead of a few days.” That will be good for us. It will be very good for Nintendo, and we’re very positive on it.

Virtual reality is hot right now with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR. What role do you feel VR will play with your business moving forward?

VR is exciting from just the pure gameplay experience. It fulfills a lot of your dreams and fantasies about gameplay because you no longer have to stare at the screen. You can look anywhere. You can see who’s behind you. You can see who’s above you. So it’s exciting technology. It will require higher processing power. That’s why Oculus and HTC require these high-end PCs that are going to process and render all those graphics. Sony is able to use their PS4, so that’s good.

We’ve seen all of the VR players and a few that haven’t come out yet. We’re excited about it. The other thing is VR has applications that go beyond gaming. I’ve seen some sports applications that are unbelievable, travel applications. I even saw an augmented reality Microsoft display, which was a medical thing where you train people on how to diagnose the heart.

With HoloLens?

Yeah, HoloLens. So we’re excited about all of it. We believe Sony, specifically, will be the dominant player because they have the most titles. One thing about gaming is you have to have great technology and also great IP that people know about. I’m a guy who loves Uncharted. So if you tell me: “Come in and buy our VR headset,” I’ll want to test it first and think about it. But if you said” Come in for the Uncharted 5 game in VR,” that’s a whole different story. Sony has the IP advantage. They also have the install base advantage with the millions of PlayStations out there.

Having said all of that, Oculus is a fantastic technology, as is HTC Vive. So we’re excited about all of it. We think it’s all going to work. Some may work faster than others, and some may be more of a leading edge product, while others may be more of a mainstream product. We have to wait and see how all that plays out.

What roles do you see demos playing for these VR devices?

We’re doing a lot of work on that right now. There are a lot of ideas floating around. First of all, we have a significant part of our footprint that’s big enough for us to do VR demos in. A lot of people say, “Well, you’ve only got 1,500 square foot stores,” but that is the average. We have hundreds of stores that are well over 2,000 square feet, so we can demo in hundreds of stores in the U.S. We can also do some events around the U.S. and different markets working in tandem with Sony—as we’ve done with Nintendo in the past. We could also do traveling exhibits in cooperation with Sony, where you go to malls and demo in cooperation with GameStop.

We’re working hard on a lot of exciting ways to demo the product. I don’t think that will be a barrier to us dominating our competitors. The big boxes always want to demo everything in their store, and we like getting the hands on the product. We also think that our associates are very knowledgeable. They really are the secret weapon for us to teach people how to play, how to use the VR, how to set it up, etc.