Twitch Continues Its TV Programming With An Anime Marathon

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New York Comic Con may be over, but Twitch is keeping the fan celebration going with a month-long anime marathon on its social livestream service.

Rooster Teeth’s RWBY kicks things off October 9, followed by Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters on October 23. From its booth at New York Comic Con, Twitch hosted livestream interviews over the weekend with the RWBY cast and crew. Anime fans could also tune in to live talk shows, gameplay and art streams from Twitch creators. Editor’s Note: The date for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Masters has been updated to reflect changes in the Twitch schedule. The original date was October 15.

“Our approach is about giving viewers a new way to experience content they love,” Annie Berrones, director of emerging content marketing at Twitch told AListDaily. “This is done by allowing them to watch shows together with other fans and chat (or meme) in real-time. Because of the community-centric nature of Twitch and our pioneering approach to chat—whether it’s anime, Power Rangers, Bob Ross, or one of a dozen other programs we’ve streamed—watching content on Twitch is an experience viewers can’t get anywhere else.”

RWBY is an award-winning American anime created by Rooster Teeth by animator Monyreak “Monty” Oum. Episodes of the show have been streamed by Netflix and Crunchyroll and have been dubbed in Japanese for Warner Bros. Japan broadcasts. Season 5 of RWBY will premiere in theaters October 12 and online October 14.

“The community has expressed their passion for anime and these are both shows they already know and love,” said Berrones. “For RWBY, it was also a great tie-in to let both new and old fans catch up the series before the new volume drops.”

Twitch was originally founded to stream games, but it has become a thriving community that gathers for whatever passions they share from gaming and music to art, TV shows, fitness and of course, anime.

“Because Twitch is a global service, viewers are constantly being exposed to diverse cultural influences,” said Berrones. “As a result, it’s the collective community that is elevating the appeal of content on our site. It’s also worth noting that since anime clubs already exist offline, we’re elevating that experience by making it easier to do online.”

Twitch audiences are able to chat with one another and in some cases, simultaneously stream marathons on their own channels. This month, Twitch is also releasing new exclusive emotes themed after some of the featured series. Emotes will be accessible to viewers who subscribe to the TwitchPresents channel.

For fans, this creates an interactive viewing experience during their favorite shows. For marketers, advertising on Twitch provides access to the anime market that fetched ¥1.8 trillion ($15.9 billion) in 2016.

Twitch partnered with Crunchyroll in July to host a five-day marathon, which garnered a positive response from the online community. The success of this event illustrates that anime “was more than a novel one-off experiment,” said Twitch, while also elevating its presence in the programmatic TV space.

Programmatic TV ad spending will grow 75.7 percent to $1.13 billion in 2017, according to eMarketer—representing 1.6 percent of total US TV ad spend. Next year, programmatic TV advertising will grow another 85.2 percent to $2.09 billion, and that figure will reach nearly $4 billion by 2019.

TV networks are creating snackable content on social networks and experimenting with new ways to reach young consumers. Other brands turn to livestreaming platforms like Twitch and Facebook Live to take advantage of real-team communication with users. In November, quick-service restaurant chain Carl’s Jr. sponsored a 72-hour livestream on Twitch that included live commercials, a first for the platform.

PlayStation President Moves On From Sony; Airbnb CMO Checks Out To Open New Firm

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Andrew House, president and CEO for PlayStation, is stepping down from the position, though he will remain chairman until the end of the year. Replacing him is John Kodera, current deputy president of Sony Interactive Entertainment.

House has been with Sony since 1990, and has worked with the PlayStation team since the very beginning in 1995. He has led PlayStation’s business strategies for six years, overseeing the launch of the PlayStation 4, the fastest-growing platform in the company’s history.

“When I passed the baton of leadership for Sony Computer Entertainment to Andrew House in 2011, I was confident that I was leaving the PlayStation business in the best possible hands, and so it has proved,” said Kazuo Hirai, president and CEO of Sony Corporation. “I’m extremely grateful to Andy for the great contribution he has made to evolving the PlayStation business, and firmly positioning it as one of the drivers of our future growth.”

“I’m tremendously proud of what we’ve built with PlayStation and Sony Interactive Entertainment: entertaining millions globally with the best in games and creating a fully-fledged digital entertainment company,” said House. “PlayStation has been a huge part of my life for more than 20 years, but with the business having achieved record-breaking success, now seemed to be the right time for me to pursue new challenges.”

Kodera has been with Sony since 1992. He joined their interactive media division in 2010, as senior vice president of corporate strategy for Sony Network Entertainment International, and was promoted to president in 2013.

Airbnb’s chief marketing officer Jonathan Mildenhall is leaving the company to start his own marketing consulting firm. At the home-rental company, Mildenhall oversaw an advertising budget increase of more than 60 percent, including the company’s first-ever Super Bowl spot. His three-year tenure at Airbnb featured the company take firm stances on diversity and inclusiveness and create unorthodox partnerships, such as a print magazine venture with Hearst and a promotional rental Taco Bell.

“I am 50 and I probably have one last chapter of my career left, and I feel I could make a bigger contribution to the marketing industry,” Mildenhall told The Wall Street Journal.

Mildenhall described his new firm, called 21st Century Brand, as small (“20 partners max”) but influential, in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

Before joining Airbnb in 2014, Mildenhall served at Coco-Cola as senior vice president of marketing communication and design excellence, and before that was head of strategy at Mother.

Heidi O’Neill has joined Spotify’s board of directors, as the company prepares to go public in the next few months. O’Neill will not be replacing any current board board members.

Currently, O’Neill runs Nike’s direct-sales business, handling both the brand’s retail and ecommerce units, a position she has held for seven years.

Dairy Queen has promoted Troy Bader as their newest CEO, continuing the company’s efforts to modernize their brand. The current chief executive, John Gainor, will be retiring at the end of the year.

Bader has served as COO for the company for the past six years, and has been with Dairy Queen since 2001.

Marni Walden, executive vice president of global media at Verizon, will be departing the company in February, though she will serve in an advisory role beginning in December. She will be replaced by Tim Armstrong.

“Marni helped build our wireless business, starting as a sales representative in a store, and grew into an inspirational leader and role model for so many at Verizon,” said Lowell McAdam, CEO and chairman of Verizon. “She has most recently spearheaded Verizon’s entry into global digital media and telematics and will leave us in a strong competitive position.”

Facebook announced adding 1,000 new positions to combat malicious and deceptive ads, in response to the 3,000 ads bought by a Russian company meant to influence the US presidential election.

“We use both automated and manual review, and we’re taking aggressive steps to strengthen both,” Mark Zuckerberg said in an interview with TechCrunch. “Reviewing ads means assessing not just the content of an ad, but the context in which it was bought and the intended audience—so we’re changing our ads review system to pay more attention to these signals.”

Ari Segal has joined esports organization Immortals as president and CEO, where he will oversee all business operations both for the holding company and all of its individual teams. The announcement of the hire also revealed the existence of an as-yet-unannounced team for Blizzard’s Overwatch League, based in Los Angeles.

“Ari brings a wealth of knowledge and passion from the traditional sports industry and has a proven track record of building or repositioning brands to connect deeply with fans, particularly in their local markets,” said Immortals CEO Noah Winston. “Innovation, access, transparency and accountability are all hallmarks of his brand-building strategy and management style, making him the ideal fit for this critical role in our organization.”

Previously, Segal worked for the Arizona Coyotes as their CEO, leading the team to a record-setting season for ticket sales and total revenue. Additionally, he led the launch of the San Diego Gulls as their president of business operations, and helped the team win the AHL President’s Award for Business Excellence.

Anthony Scaramucci has announced starting a new media company, entitled The Scaramucci Post. The former White House communications director told The New York Times that the venture is “going to start out experiential on the net.”

The publication currently exists only on Twitter, and Scaramucci reports no plans to host an actual website.

Steve Davis has signed on with Fanatics International as the company’s president. In the role, he will expand the sports merchandiser’s global manufacturing and distribution infrastructure to expand the company’s vertical commerce model outside of North America.

“Steve brings a broad range of commerce and brand-building expertise to Fanatics with a deep understanding of the global retail landscape,” said Doug Mack, CEO of Fanatics. “His leadership will significantly advance our global footprint and expand the multichannel, merchandising and manufacturing capabilities that we provide to all our partners worldwide.”

Before joining Fanatics, Davis was CEO of fast-fashion online retailer Rue La La and head of global operations for GSI Commerce.

Scripps has started searching for a new chief financial officer after the departure this week of Tim Wesolowski. The have appoined Lisa Knutson as interim CFO.

Knutson has been with the independent TV station owner since 2005, and recently had her role expanded to include both the responsibilities of chief strategy officer and chief administrative officer. Wesolowski had worked at Scripps since 2011.

Cadillac’s car-subscription service, Book, has a new global director in Melody Lee. Before her new role, Lee held the position of director of brand marketing for the luxury car company since 2012.

Private spirits giant Bacardi Limited promoted veteran executive Mahesh Madhavan to the role of CEO, taking over for outgoing Michael Dolan. Formerly the leading executive for Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, the brand will continue to look to Madhavan for insights into global markets.

“With more than 20 years at Bacardi, in different roles in different geographies, Mahesh has a tremendous track record of success,” Bacardi Limited chairman Facundo L. Bacardi said in a statement. “He inherits a business that is in great shape, with a healthy balance sheet, revitalized brands, and an engaged team of employees.”

Continuing with a chain of company promotions, John Burke takes on the title of global CMO. Burke will provide leadership and strategic direction for Bacardi’s global marketing organization, which had been led by Dolan in recent years. Burke has been with the company for over 24 years.

Finally, Ignacio del Valle will take on the role of regional president of the Latin America and Caribbean divisions.

InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has announced Claire Bennett as the brand’s new CMO. Bennett is moving on after a number of senior marketing positions at American Express, including overseeing global marketing efforts and brand management.

“Claire’s broad and highly relevant brand marketing experience, combined with her deep insight into the hospitality industry, will enable her to provide strong leadership for this critical area of our business, and make a significant contribution to our executive committee,” said IHG CEO Keith Barr.

Condé Nast, owner of media brands like Vanity Fair, Vogue and the New Yorker, has promoted Pamela Drucker Mann to chief revenue and marketing officer, according to The Wall Street Journal. In a corresponding move, chief business officer and president of revenue Jim Norton stepped down from a position he took on in October.

“I led a very successful print product at Bon Appétit,” Drucker Mann said. “But we’re shifting as consumers shift. My number one priority is keeping our momentum going.”

Donna Josephson is joining Corner Bakery Cafe as senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Her 20-year career includes brand management and marketing strategy for restaurant brands like McAlister’s Deli, Wendy’s, Applebee’s, Chick-fil-A and Fazoli’s.

“Donna brings a wealth of experience in strategically building great brands,” said Corner Bakery Cafe CEO Frank Paci. “She is a great addition to our team and we look forward to her leadership in growing the Corner Bakery Cafe brand.”

Bustle executive editor Julie Alvin has been promoted to senior digital director of lifestyle, where she’ll oversee a number of Time Inc. properties, including InStyle and HelloGiggles. Alvin was one of the Bustle’s first editors and is recognized for her contributions to Bustle’s growth.

“A digital and creative visionary who understands how to engage audiences and build digital communities, Julie is the ideal choice to continue to scale Time Inc.’s lifestyle brands and serve readers on multiple platforms,” said chief content officer Alan Murray.

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, October 6. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Director, Marketing Razer USA, Ltd. Irvine, CA
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Brand Manager BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. Santa Clara, CA
Director, Product Marketing Facebook Menlo Park, CA
Sr. Director, Enterprise Marketing PetSmart Phoenix, AZ

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

AR Marketing Sounds Like Success For The Music Industry

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The music industry is embracing augmented reality that invites consumers to experience music not just through sound, but sight as well. AR experiences create opportunities for brands and artists to engage their fans in new and authentic ways.

According to IFPI’s annual state of the industry report, innovation is the key to broadening appeal in the music industry.

“There is also a concerted willingness on the part of the labels to engage with digital innovation of all stripes,” the reports says, “to make sure music is not only a part of cutting-edge new services—but a legitimate, licensed and monetized part.”

“We’re seeing a big new wave of start-ups coming to us wanting to talk about how music, or music video, can be a part of their offerings, apps, social messaging, virtual reality [and] augmented reality products,” Ole Obermann, chief digital officer and EVP of business development for Warner Music commented in the report.

AR utilizes the smartphones consumers already own and its novelty can be utilized in a number of ways.

Album Art Comes To Life

Sony Music Entertainment and Michael Jackson’s estate have partnered with Shazam to create an AR experience for Scream—13 of Jackson’s greatest hits and a mash-up by The White Panda. This partnership marks the first global AR promotion of its kind for Shazam or for a Michael Jackson album.

Each Scream CD and glow-in-the-dark 2LP vinyl packaging contains an exclusive poster that will unlock an animated clip through the Shazam app. Billboards promoting the new album will also include billboards and posters, each with the Shazam logo that launches a second AR experience.

Guerrilla Marketing

Earlier this year, singer/songwriter Ed Sheeran returned to social media after a one-year hiatus with a teaser for his new song hidden in a Snapchat Lens. The lens overlayed sunglasses onto a user’s face, along with animated lines and a clip from the song Thinking Out Loud.

Rather than outright market his new song, Sheeran launched the Snapchat Lens without any branding and allowed fans to discover it for themselves. Once found, the news quickly spread. When Sheeran’s album, “÷” (read as Divide), dropped in March, the artist became the first to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week.

AR Exposure

Now emerging artists can book a virtual concert anywhere in the world. In Dublin, a startup is bringing AR concerts to the consumer through a new app called Firststage. Artists sign up for free and are curated by professionals. If selected, the musicians are filmed performing against a green screen and added to the Firststage app. Specially marked cards can be printed and placed anywhere, allowing users to watch performances anywhere from a table to on top of a sleeping cat.

Users who like a performance can request more songs, donate to the artist and purchase the song, all through the app.

“We were both musicians ourselves and learned that one of the only ways to make money anymore was by playing live gigs,” Neil Harrison, co-founder of Firstage told Irish Times. “However, myself and my partner, Keith Lawler, had some advertising experience too and saw an opportunity—what if artists could be playing different gigs simultaneously anywhere in the world? AR provided the necessary tech to make this possible.”

Positivity Improves Marketing Effectiveness; Industry Fights Ad-Supported Piracy

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Consumers favor brands that take a stance on stereotypes, according to a new survey by Choozle. Thirty-six percent of the 500 respondents reported liking brands more if they ran ads that broke traditional gender roles. Furthermore, 25 percent claimed they would be more likely to buy from a gender-progressive brand.

“The increase of personalization with the help of third party data has created an increase of gender bias in digital advertising,” said Andrew Fischer, CEO and co-founder of Choozle. “With the increase of acknowledgement of gender stereotypes and representation we, as an industry, should strive to create an inclusive ad experience that meets the consumers’ needs.”

Ace Metrix has also released its report on the top-rated video ads for Q3 of this year, tracking a common theme of compassion, philanthropy and self-empowerment that played well with audiences.

 

Meanwhile, Telaria has released its latest study on connected TVs and streaming, finding that more than half of consumers find watching ads a fair trade-off for low-cost content. These ads work well, too: over 50 percent of weekly connected TV users report researching or purchasing advertised items.

TAG has released a study on the pervasive issue of ad-supported piracy sites, finding that despite drastic action by the digital advertising industry the problem still persists. Copyright-infringing content hosts earned an estimated $111 million in ad revenue last year, though steps taken by the marketing industry have reduced their income by as high as 61 percent.

“We have not won the war against ad-supported piracy, but the battle is joined, and we are making good progress,” said TAG CEO Mike Zaneis. “Despite the advances made, there is more work to be done, as companies work together to protect their brands against the interrelated challenges of ad-supported piracy, fraud, malware and lack of transparency.”

According to TAG’s estimates, infringing content accounts for $2.4 billion in lost revenue for content creators.

Snapchat’s ad revenue forecast for the year has been lowered due to slowing user growth rates and marketer worries about its “experimental” ad products, according to a new report from E-Marketer. The study suggests that the platform’s global revenues will only reach $774.1 million this year, down from their March prediction of $900 million.

However, eMarketer still claims that Snapchat will surpass Twitter in US ad income next year, with their 2018 predictions being $1.18 billion and $1.16 billion, respectively.

Also contributing to Snapchat’s reduced growth is the slow adoption of their Spectacles sunglasses. According to Snap CEO Evan Spiegel, the AR-integrated glasses have sold 150,000 units since their launch in November of last year.

The global digital games market will hit a value of $100 billion by the end of 2017, a new report by Juniper Research indicates. Driving this growth is the rising trend of free-to-play games on PC, allowing developers to use in-game purchases and advertising.

Research and Markets also released a new report on the global gaming market, predicting a compound annual growth rate of 7.63 percent over the next four years. The report tracked not just video game sales, but also gaming peripherals and even board games.

IDC has forecasted massive growth in the virtual-and-augmented reality marketplace, predicting a 56.1 percent compound annual growth for VR/AR headsets. By their reports, AR headsets will account for more than $30 billion in revenue by 2021. Their report described early growth predictions for VR as “unrealistic,” but attribute the high growth rate to the increasing affordability of head-mounted displays.

Their research indicates that while VR headsets will drive growth in the near term, AR will jump from 10 percent to 25 percent of market share in 2020 and 2021.

A new survey by Simply Measured revealed new information on the top problems faced by agency employees. Measuring ROI was by far the largest concern at 61.4 percent, followed by “tying social to business goals” at 35.5 percent.

While consumers are still wary of facial authentication on smartphones, fingerprint scanners are becoming more and more common. Research by Counterpoint indicates that over one billion phones with fingerprint scanners will be shipped in the next year. This figure is due in part to increased efficiency and declining cost of manufacturing the sensors.

StitcherAds has announced a new product, offering automated integration between Facebook and Instagram ads and retail buying behavior. The company attributes as high as 27 percent of in-store customer visits to paid social-media engagements.

According to Nielsen data, digital video ad spending growth is rapidly outpacing that of linear television. Digital video has increased by 26 percent this year, as opposed to TV’s much more modest figure of 3.6 percent.

Despite the massive growth, digital’s share of the market remains much smaller, at only $9.3 billion for the first half of 2017, compared to TV’s $61.1 billion.

Sponsored content on social media can bring as high as $1.4 billion for top local TV stations, research by Share Rocket suggests. According to their research, which analyzed 210 television markets over 12 months, the top 20 markets alone are worth $747 million for social media value.

Despite higher satisfaction rates for streaming services than TV providers, cord-cutting has diminished in the last year, according to a recent J.D. Power study. The percentage of consumers who claim to want to drop their cable provider has dropped from 9 percent in 2016 to 8 percent this year. The research indicates that streamed and scheduled programming are not mutually exclusive–average consumption of TV has increased from 16.6 hours per week in 2015 to 17.4 in 2016.

WineAmerica, a national association of American wineries, revealed their latest economic impact research. Their data indicates that the wine industry has contributed $220 billion to the American economy this year, through direct wages, supplier contracts and induced impact.

Lionsgate And Unity Unleash ‘Jigsaw’ VR Experience

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As just about every horror movie franchise demonstrates, killing the main villain doesn’t necessarily end the series. That’s certainly the case for the Saw series, which will be launching its eighth movie Jigsaw on October 27.

It’s been seven years since the previous movie released, so Lionsgate is promoting its return as a major event. This includes a VR escape room experience within a physical escape room that debuted on Thursday at the New York Comic Con.

Julie Shumaker, VP of advertiser solutions at Unity

The VR experience, which involves making a gruesome life or death decision and solving a puzzle, gives users a first-hand look at what it’s like to be one of Jigsaw’s victims. After escaping the trap, players can tour shrines that showcase props from previous Saw movies, then it concludes with the Jigsaw trailer. It was designed in partnership between Lionsgate and Unity, and also marks the official launch of Unity’s Virtual Room ad unit.

“We partnered with Lionsgate to launch Virtual Room, which is an IAB ad experience in VR,” Julie Shumaker, vice president of advertiser solutions at Unity, told AListDaily. She was joined by Unity’s head of VR strategy Tony Parisi, and Agatha Bochenek, Unity’s head of mobile and VR/AR advertising sales.

“There are several points that we’re really excited about with the partnership, with the first being that it’s the first of its kind,” Shumaker continued. “It takes the work the IAB Innovation Lab established—standards which help an industry grow—and adopt things that can be measurable. You’ll see that in a variety of Unity VR games.”

Shumaker explained that the Virtual Room is an ad experience that allows brands to better use the Unity VR platform, which is quite extensive, considering how roughly two-thirds of all VR experiences are built on Unity.

Although Lionsgate is one of the leading film companies to pioneer VR, with multiple activations to its credit, Shumaker said that what sets the Jigsaw experience apart from previous VR promotions is the sense of scale Virtual Room offers.

“With Virtual Room, Lionsgate has taken advantage of deep immersion,” said Shumaker. “In essence, the consumer goes into the Jigsaw Virtual Room and it has its own narrative. The difference here is that it’s scalable. It’s a self-contained immersive experience that can be surface through a variety of Unity VR apps.”

Tony Parisi, head of VR strategy at Unity

“So far, all of the early innovations and experimentation with brand content in VR and AR has been around crafting a one-of-a-kind experience that is delivered as an app,” Parisi added.

He cited Audi’s R18 race car experience as a prime example of a deeply crafted VR story.

“The idea behind the VR ad unit is that you would encounter those experiences within some other application. You would come to a natural stopping point—between chapters in a cinematic experience or between levels in a game—and you’re offered a chance to opt into an experience, and then you go in there for a limited time. It’s snack-sized content, but true to the brand and takes full advantage of the immersion, and delivered into multiple applications.”

According to Parisi, if you have to download an app for a single VR experience, then it has reached its limit. Motivated users will try a lot of different things, but that’s different from presenting a brand experience to someone while they’re in the midst of doing something else.

Bochenek explained that the Jigsaw VR experience goes far beyond a location-based escape room.

“We’re distributing our ad inside of two key apps that are built on Unity,” said Bochenek. “One is the Samsung internet VR app, which is the main 360 video app that all Gear owners have. It will be the first interactive experience in that app.”

Gear owners will be able click on the Jigsaw experience in the Featured section to experience it. Samsung also benefits by pushing the boundaries of its video app with interactivity.

“We’re also distributing in an app call Nanite Fulcrum, which is on both the Samsung Gear and Oculus Rift,” Bochenek continued. The VR comic book app lets its users jump into panels. “We’re going to have a special panel at the end of comic book app that allows you to go into this experience. That’s the massive distribution that we’re talking about that’s unique to this product. It’s a standalone, very scalable product that you can use for a variety of advertisers and brands.”

Agatha Bochenek, head of mobile and VR/AR advertising sales at Unity

Bochenek also said that Lionsgate didn’t have a specific VR plan for Jigsaw, so the partnership enabled them to develop it closely together. The experience features that voice of Tobin Bell, who plays Jigsaw in the movie, and Lionsgate provided assets from the entire Saw franchise to be brought into VR—giving the experience an authentic feel.

The Saw franchise, with its deadly escape room theme, may be the perfect partner to debut something called a Virtual Room, but Parisi reminds us that “room” actually means environment. It doesn’t necessarily mean that users will be trapped within four walls.

Shumaker said they’re excited to showcase the Virtual Room’s scalability.

“[Virtual Room] is a sandbox in which a brand can tell its story and have consumers interact with content and almost go on individual journeys,” she said. “For example, let’s say it’s a cinematic VR mountain climbing experience, and the user has an opportunity to take a break and maybe earn some unlockable content by going into a branded Virtual Room—and let’s say the Virtual Room is an energy drink. We don’t anticipate that the brand will make it about drinking that drink. We believe that it would take advantage of Unity Virtual Room to take users on an achievement-based micro-experience, where they get their achievement and get back to the VR mountain. What we love about Virtual Room is that no matter what fiction you’re in, you have moments of natural breaks.”

Unity has found that people are always seeking interesting and new content, whether that means exploring the extras for a movie or reaching the next level of a mobile game.

“It’s our nature to search and click,” said Shumaker, and Unity believes that consumers will be delighted by the ability to tap into a brand’s Virtual Room for a side journey from within a VR experience.

Shumaker explained that the IAB Innovation Lab research has produced reliable and replicable VR ad experiences, which now gives brands Lionsgate more confidence in developing experiences.

“That’s why Unity wanted to commit behind this ad standard,” she said. “It’s very hard for a brand to know its long-term strategy when it’s a one-off. Did it work? Did it not work? What did it work compared to? We’re excited about the fact that brands will be able take advantage of this ad product—the Virtual Room—and create some parity with their campaigns in what they’d expect the results to be.”

As the Jigsaw campaign demonstrates, it will be very easy for brands to port VR experiences to other apps built in Unity.

“It’s at the core of what we care about for our developers,” Shumaker said. “We put great tools in their hands to democratize content development, we enable their success by making money through advertising, and we solve hard problems like how to do the future—which is currently VR and AR. This launch means a ton to Unity because it captures all three of those. The apps are built on Unity, the Virtual Room ad is built on Unity, and it’s being distributed to Unity developers to make them money.”

Esports Fans: Nielsen Report Reveals Who They Are And What They Do

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Esports fans are passionate about video game competitions, but who are they really? Brands that invest in this lucrative and growing market may find themselves scratching their heads when it comes to looking beyond the myths and stereotypes.

Nielsen Esports‘ new report, “The Esports Playbook,” explores a number of theories around who esports fans are, from how they consume content to interests outside of video games.

“The key thing we want marketers to take away from this report is that esports is not a one-size-fits-all investment opportunity,” Nicole Pike, Nielsen Esports’ global research and product lead told AListDaily. “In the same way it’s not enough to tell someone to invest in ‘sports,’ making the leap into esports is a much more nuanced endeavor than it is often seen to be. Wanting to reach millennial males is not enough for esports to be the right fit—our goal is to help marketers understand if, where and how esports has a role in their sponsorship strategy.”

The report focuses on fans in the United States and Europe, with a separate analysis of Asian markets to follow later this year.

These Gamers Do More Than Game

It should come as no surprise that US esports fans spend an average of 8.2 hours per week playing video games, but the demographic also consumes other media, and a lot of it. Across the US, UK, France and German markets, fans spend an average of 4.5 hours per week consuming internet videos through websites like YouTube and 4.3 hours watching TV on an actual TV screen.

Facebook is the most popular social network among those surveyed at 57 percent, followed by Twitter at 42 percent. However, when it comes to following their favorite esports players or teams, fans turn to YouTube. (Nielsen Esports included traditional social media sites only, which excludes Twitch.)

Nielsen Esports found that only 17 percent of both esports’ fans leisure time and money is spent on gaming. Don’t assume they’re all male, either. While the demographic certainly skews male at 71 percent, nearly one in four female fans still stream esports content at least weekly.

Yes, Esports Fans Still Like Traditional Sports

Despite their love of video games, fans of competitive gaming were still more likely to attend a traditional sporting event in the last year, Nielsen found. In France, 24 percent of respondents have attended a live sporting event in the past 12 months, compared to 21 percent who have attended a live esports event in person.

Esports fans hold an interest in traditional sports across the board with soccer being the most popular in all surveyed regions except the US, where football leads the way. Nielsen noted that the most popular sports among respondents—soccer, football, boxing and motorsport—also tend to have their own popular video game franchises. (Madden NFL, NBA 2K and FIFA, just to name a few.)

Most Esports Fans Are Okay With Corporate Involvement

With the increasing number of brands entering the esports arena through sponsorship or other opportunities, there is a greater need to understand the demographic. It’s not enough to “do something millennial” and hope for the best.

“Brands entering the esports space, in whatever capacity, need to have done their due diligence and homework, to understand not only their own objectives but also the audience, their habits and their preferences,” Pike says in the report.

As with any activation, authenticity matters. Depending on which country you’re in, the type of brand matters, too. Thirty-three percent of French esports fans believe non-endemic brand activity in the space to be “inappropriate,” compared to Germany, the UK and US at 24, 22 and 15 percent, respectively.

US esports fans are much more open to the idea of a non-endemic sponsor, and a quarter of them told Nielsen that they are “extremely/very interested” in following esports sponsors on social media.

Why Audiences Get Emotional Over Branded GIFs

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Advertising Week’s Attention Summit opened with Twitch’s senior vice president of client strategy Anthony Danzi repeating the adage of how the average human attention span has dwindled from 12 seconds in 2000 to about eight seconds today—which compares unfavorably to a goldfish’s nine-second attention span.

“We are all in the business of attention, and that business is getting more difficult in the age of content saturation and platform proliferation,” Danzi said during the presentation’s opening remarks.

Whether or not the comparison to goldfish is true, the challenges are real, and brands need to find ways to quickly and unintrusively convey messages to audiences. Tenor’s chief business officer Jason Krebs, who also spoke at the summit, believes he has the perfect solution—and it’s something that you see on just about every platform, from text messages to social media: the GIF.

“GIFs have changed how the world communicates,” Krebs said during his presentation while celebrating the 30th anniversary of the image format. Emotional communication has evolved from simple text-based expressions such as “lol” to short looping animations clipped from shows, movies and events that fully capture feelings. Krebs explained that visual expression has created a fundamental shift, as inserting nonverbal communications into mobile conversations gives people a feeling that’s akin to having face-to-face personal conversations.

Tenor is the largest GIF keyboard for mobile users and social platforms, and as the animated format has become the leading means of communication for many users, the platform has come to describe itself as “the world’s largest emotional search engine.”

“People are using our GIFs to express their emotions, feelings and thoughts in text messages, chat profiles and social media all around the world,” Krebs told AListDaily. “We like to say that a picture is worth a thousand words, but a GIF can tell a story. People are using these visuals to communicate with friends, family, coworkers and social audiences in more nuanced, enhanced and flavorful ways than ever before possible—better than text or emoji.”

Jason Krebs, chief business officer at Tenor

Krebs noted that it’s not that people haven’t been using GIFs in the past 30 years, but the rise of mobile has significantly changed the game.

“The prevalence of people communicating more often on mobile devices has unlocked the capability of the GIF,” Krebs explained. “Tenor comes in and makes it a real platform for consumers to send these rich thoughts and feelings, but we also enable businesses to partake in the platform.”

By platform, Krebs is referring to the social networks themselves in addition to marketers and advertisers. Although emoji is still in great use, and Apple is making them more animated, Krebs said that comparing a GIF to an emoji wasn’t dissimilar to comparing text to a movie. Both communicate thoughts and feelings, but one has a richer, more visually appealing format. Furthermore, unlike other media, direct messages usually don’t go ignored or overlooked.

“The beauty of GIFs is that it is being sent from one person to another,” said Krebs. “Everybody is certainly being bombarded with more information, but there isn’t anyone who doesn’t pay attention when they get a text message. They are read 100 percent of the time.

“You don’t skip it, not look at it, or not pay attention to what’s going on because somebody is sending you a message and you’re going to reply to it. That’s what’s unique about this opportunity. It’s not just a media consumption opportunity—this is a communications platform that has never been open before to marketers. Now we’re able to serve these messages with one-to-one communications, and consumers are opting in to this.”

As an example, Krebs said that a brand like Coca-Cola could connect with a person looking to express happiness with a smile, given its slogan, ‘have a Coke and a smile.’ That’s just one of thousands of creative insertions and placements advertisers are afforded with.

Will And Grace Will And Grace Gifs GIF from Willandgrace GIFs

Tenor partnered with NBC to promote the premiere of Will & Grace using GIFs, and it’s currently working with Paramount and AwesomnessTV on similar branded content promotions.

“We want to give IP owners the opportunity to put their conversation out in the marketplace—the concept that’s unique to them—and give their fans an opportunity to use them,” said Krebs. “In one way, it’s simply people consuming [the IP], but it’s [also] giving Will & Grace fans the opportunity to communicate using clips from the show. It’s been incredibly well received, and more marketers are picking up on this idea of putting their content into GIF form so consumers can share it.”

Krebs cited a UC Berkley study that found 27 distinct human emotional states, up from six in a prior study. So, representing this range of emotions is more important than ever, and search is the key aspect. Although Will & Grace fans likely sought out related GIFs in anticipation of the show’s premiere, Krebs said that a large majority of people who discovered these branded GIFs by searching for emotions.

“When people are searching for ‘happy,’ ‘fun’ or ‘excited’—anything that they’re looking to communicate—then they will appear organically within the search result, and that’s when consumers can choose to share,” said Krebs. On Tenor, similar to Google, brands can choose to have their content rise up as search results organically or they can pay to have featured at the top of search results.

Although there are some obvious emotional connections brands should pursue, like choosing fear-related words to promote content for the movie IT, Krebs said that there is a multitude of less obvious considerations too.

“There are things people can do—whether it’s little moments of the shows or topics that they’re looking to achieve,” said Krebs. If someone typed in ‘sad,’ I think you could imagine a travel company telling someone not to be sad and it’s time to take a trip somewhere. There are lots of ways to turn certain keywords or clever opportunities into the turning point for what your brand’s premise is or what its product looks to solve. The beauty of what we have is that there’s no harm or foul if you miss that tone because the brand isn’t paying on an impression basis. It’s only has to pay with the GIF is shared.”

“The beauty of what we have is that there’s no harm or foul if you miss that tone because the brand isn’t paying on an impression basis.” — Tenor chief business officer Jason Krebs

To illustrate which feelings are searched the most, Tenor created an emotional graph. However, Krebs says that it doesn’t mean that less popular terms won’t be just as effective, since the platform can both fulfill and create demand.

“It doesn’t have to be as literal as someone typing in the word ‘yes,’” said Krebs. “We’ve got a lot more opportunities with words that are synonymous to yes and other things that we’ve linked with those terms. We’re not afraid of running out of opportunities to make matches between marketers, content owners and brand imperative and what consumers are looking for.”

Tenor Emotional Graph

For now, it doesn’t seem like brands can make too many GIFs to service different emotions, but Krebs said that marketers tend to know when their campaigns resonate with audiences.

“I don’t think we’ve gotten to any place where enough is enough,” Krebs said. “The greatest thing about marketers and advertisers is that they know when they’re speaking to their core audience well and when they’re making advances. We would know and give them feedback if images are not being shared. So yes, I think the sky is the limit for the overall community, but we don’t think that everything anybody does is perfection. That’s why we’re here to help manage the process and steer it in the right direction.”

To mark this year’s Advertising Week, Tenor released the top 10 GIFs that had increased in use in New York City during the event, and it looks like the Big Apple was in a very positive mood. “Thumbs up” GIFs saw a 2,725 percent increase in use, followed by a 1,600 percent increase in “yass” and a 1,050 percent increase in “sick.” Additionally, terms such as “party,” “let’s do this” and “mind blown” also saw significant increases.

“We’re pumped about having our finger and attention tuned to human emotion and how it’s being communicated,” said Krebs. “The opportunity to match the emotional state of a consumer has not been an opportunity for marketers before. Now that we have this, it’s unlocking the greatest opportunity for marketers in a generation.”

Experts Explain How Brands Should Approach Esports

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Esports has seen tremendous growth over the past year, with major non-endemic brands such as Mercedes-Benz getting into the space and 17 NBA teams partnering with 2K Sports to create the NBA 2K Esports League. That’s why esports was a hot topic during the New York Media Festival’s games conference this year, with industry insiders discussing its phenomenal growth and how more non-endemic brands can become involved.

“In 2017, what we see is that two of the biggest players in esports—Riot and Activision Blizzard—are now taking steps to create these franchise leagues, which was always the dream,” said Sundance Digiovanni, vice president of brand and content at Activision Blizzard, who has been involved in esports since the beginning and is the co-founder of MLG. “Everyone talks about the golden age. We’re now just starting the golden age, where we have the first franchise and global leagues. It’s starting to look and feel a lot more like traditional sports, but with this amazing opportunity globally—digital first—toward an audience that’s shying away from traditional sports in a lot of ways.”

Although esports may experience some hiccups along the way, Digiovanni believes that it’s well on its way to becoming a sustainable business.

It’s Not Television

One of the major themes that arose during the discussions is how esports is a digital-first form of entertainment, and it must be treated as such. With the exception of Turner’s ELeague, most linear channels have struggled with integrating esports into its programming. Digiovanni explained why TV marketing strategies won’t work on mobile.

“Most teenagers don’t watch TV,” he said. “They consume content on iPhones or Android devices, and the majority of it is probably socially generated. They don’t want to be bombarded with something that feels like there’s a message crafted to be delivered on radio, TV or somewhere else. Just think about the delivery medium and think about what you’re offering them in that short period of time. In a really small window, you could become a hero brand if you do it properly.”

Marty Strenczewilk, CEO and co-founder of Splyce, put things more bluntly. “TV is dead,” he said. “TV is now a monitor. I haven’t had cable in a long time and I don’t miss it, but what I do miss are the types of entertainment that haven’t figured out digital.”

Strenczewilk cited basketball as a prime example. “I can’t watch basketball online. I get an inferior experience unless I spend significant money. If I want to watch League of Legends online, I spend no money and I get a high-quality experience that’s better because of chat and digital engagement that I couldn’t do otherwise. It’s not just about the fact that consumers are younger and have always consumed a product that way, but we consume it in a way that’s better digitally.”

It’s interesting that Strenczewilk mentioned the NBA, considering how more than half of the franchises recently came together to create an esports league. Brendan Donohue, managing director of NBA 2K Esports League, explained that it was actually the NBA team owners who wanted to get further into esports in the first place.

“A lot of our owners already own teams in other esports titles, so they were already invested in esports,” said Donohue. He added that it was natural for NBA 2K become involved, since the video game has been experiencing exponential growth over the past decade. Having 17 NBA teams and their organizations put their weight and marketing savvy behind a successful video game makes for great entertainment.

Donohue described the NBA audience as “tech-savvy, millennial and multicultural,” which also happens to be the same kind of audience playing NBA 2K. However, he also emphasized how two-thirds of the NBA’s social media followers live outside of North America, making for a massive audience, and an esports league is another way to engage them.

“We certainly see esports as a global entity, and a large number of NBA 2K games are sold outside of the US,” said Donohue. “They offer a free version of the game through Tencent in China, where we have 34 million registered users. So, we see a global appetite for this.”

This echoes Digiovanni’s sentiment when he said, “In this space, if you say that you need to tune in at eight o’clock on Monday to watch this match on this channel only, some people will but a lot of people say that there are a thousand other channels on Twitch, YouTube and Facebook for me to look at. Maybe they’ll watch one of their favorite streamers instead. You’ve got to make it accessible, and you’ve got to also understand that a lot of times the audience is international.”

When considering the future of esports as a form of entertainment, Digiovanni said that he envisioned a delivery that avoided a lot of pitfalls that traditional sports media fell into.

“We can do this without a lot of the overhead and issues of traditional sports, but in a way that looks like traditional sports,” said Digiovanni. “We say we’re the ESPN of esports, but what I’d rather be is the first premier esports-focused network that happens to own some IP and leagues, but also partners with other parties like Riot and Valve, putting everybody’s content through this network. Imagine that we have multiple channels on OTT [TV], digital [on] Twitch, YouTube and our own streaming platforms and inside our own games. If you’re a fan of any of these things, they’re accessible to you when you want, where you want and how you want.”

The Growth Of Non-Endemic Sponsors

As the saying goes, you only have one chance to make a first impression, and that’s especially true of the esports world. The word “authentic” tends to be overused, but it’s the best way for brands to enter into the space.

One of the major takeaways is that brands have to do it right by being authentic, and they can’t just dip their toes in the water—they have to go all in. Comcast Xfinity, Arby’s and Mercedes-Benz were cited as examples, and women’s brands such as Dove and Calvin Klein are looking to grow in the space.

“Gaming is still the one activity in the entertainment space where you get sole focus of that user,” said Dave Madden, senior vice president of global brand solutions at EA, commenting on how viewers are often multitasking when watching television or on their phones. However, games get 100 percent of their attention when they’re playing, whether it be for five minutes or two hours.

“When brands can figure out how to be in that environment and add value to the experience, the results are [great],” said Madden. “There’s a simple reason for that. They love being rewarded with added content and experiences that help the gameplay, but they’re also so interested in the experience [of playing]. Brands get a better relationship with the consumer—the engagement is much higher.”

As an example of successful engagement, Madden cited FIFA 18’s partnership with Coca-Cola and how the soda brand sponsored the fictional character Alex Hunter as a spokesperson.

Non-endemic sponsors should also look to real-life people and brands that are already involved in esports, whether they be endemic companies such as HyperX, teams or individual players, and partner to integrate into esports in an authentic way.

Mark Tekunoff, corporate public relations manager at HyperX, said that the computer hardware and peripheral company didn’t see non-endemic brands as competitors. “We see an opportunity to work with non-endemics and help them with the value that we’ve created over the last 10 years using what we know and the fact that we’re part of the gaming community. It’s a mutual collaboration between us and them, and a number of them are approaching us now asking what we’ve learned.”

“It’s OK not to know all the answers,” said Digiovanni, offering advice from the Activision Blizzard side. “It’s OK to ask questions and collaborate. That’s my advice to any brand or agency looking at this space, whether you’re working with a team, a league, player sponsorship or an event. Just ask for some examples of previous successes and see what has worked. More importantly, ask what has not worked. If you can learn from someone else’s mistakes, that’s the best play.”

Dave Correa, ESL’s director of sponsorship sales, talked about how some brands suffer a “paralysis by analysis,” because they’re unsure of whether an esports audience will be receptive to advertising.

“Really, it’s not that difficult,” said Correa. “Basically, if you can provide an opportunity through content, an experience or creating a whole new amateur league that leads into a pro league—whatever it might be—if a brand can figure out what that opportunity is and deliver that back to the fan community, you’re going to be very well received. It’s a super-intelligent audience and they understand that advertising is part of the ecosystem. They just don’t want to be hit over the head with it a million times without some additive value.”

Correa also emphasized how brands need to identify the right games that fit with their audiences.

“You don’t hear a brand marketer on the traditional sports side say, ‘let’s get into sports,’” said Correa. “It doesn’t happen because that’s not how you think about it. You have to think about the titles that best align with what you’re going to do and then figure out the opportunities that best fit with that particular title.”

He added that even though there are hundreds of great video games out there, there aren’t hundreds of esports.

“Games like GTA or Destiny 2 are fantastic, but they’re not esports,” Correa explained. “I think some brands get caught up in the hype and look at titles that don’t necessarily have a competitive scene.”

Streamlabs CEO and co-Founder Ali Moiz noted that, although esports is a big part of livestreamed content, what often gets overlooked is the fact that 80 percent of the viewable hours on Twitch are actually streamers, not esports tournaments. These broadcasts may include pro players streaming during their off-hours and entertainers who are good at games. Whatever the case, Moiz said that people who come for esports end up spending most of their time watching these individuals.

“Gaming is still the largest [livestreaming] category today here in the US,” explained Moiz. “But akin to what is happening in China and broadly in Asia, the fastest growing categories are actually non-gaming . . . in five-to-10 years, this stuff is going to be bigger in livestreaming than gaming.”

Twitch, Condé Nast Expand Content Development Teams

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Twitch has brought on Kendra Johnson as general manager of global content development and emerging markets, where she will focus on driving expansion in the Latin America and Asia Pacific regions.

“Twitch’s creator-first approach to monetization, moderation and overall functionality, has elevated livestreaming from a hobby to a career ,” said Johnson. “ My goal is to ensure creators and viewers around the world are fully versed in both the depth of our offerings and the strength of our community. It’s these elements that collectively establish Twitch as the premier destination for interactive entertainment.”

Johnson has worked in the entertainment industry for 17 years, most recently at Maker Studios as head of distribution and strategy partnerships. Previously, she held the title of vice president of business strategy, planning and development at ABC Family.

David Lopez has signed on with Condé Nast Entertainment as its first-ever vice president of branded content video. Before joining the publishing giant, he worked at Vice Media as head of global business and brand content partnerships.

“David has a proven track record in leading successful branded digital video teams, projects and partnerships, which makes him the perfect fit for CNÉ and we are happy to have him join the team,” said Croi McNamara, senior vice president of digital video programming at Condé Nast.

Automation software provider UiPath has hired Bobby Patrick as their latest chief marketing officer, after experiencing a 500 percent growth in revenue since 2015.

“UiPath is experiencing phenomenal growth, led by our emphasis on an open, extensible product architecture that easily scales,” said UiPath CEO and co-founder Daniel Dines. “UiPath continues to maintain the largest engineering and development operation in RPA today. Bobby adds extraordinary experience in strategic marketing, go-to-market, and channel development, which will be critical to scaling UiPath as we expand worldwide.”

Before joining UiPath, Patrick served as CMO at Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and prior to that was CMO at Basho, GXS and Digex.

Equifax CEO Richard Smith is retiring, collecting $90 million in company stock options and benefits on his way out. Following the massive data breach earlier this month, Smith is the third Equifax executive to step down from the company.

Kevin Mansell, CEO and chairman of Kohl’s for the past decade, will be stepping down, ceding the position to Michelle Gass. Mansell has worked at the Wisconsin-based retailer for 35 years, after positioning the company to work more closely with Amazon and increasing its digital presence.

Gass has been with Kohl’s since 2013, and most recently held the title of chief merchandising and customer officer. Previously, Gass worked 17 years in marketing and strategy for Starbucks.

Snap’s hardware lab is undergoing leadership changes, transferring lab head Steve Horowitz to a different department and promoting Mark Randall in his place.

Gina Degnan Hughes has signed on with Fuse Media as their latest senior vice president of marketing.

“Fuse Media stands at the intersection of high quality video programming and youth culture today, continuously expanding our content offerings and marketing to reach our audience on a wherever-whenever basis,” said Michael Schwimmer, Fuse’s president and CEO. “Gina’s energy and intellect, combined with her excellent track record building audience awareness and engagement, make her a great fit for the Fuse team as we continue to grow our business.”

Before joining Fuse, Degnan Hughes led campaigns for The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad as senior vice president of marketing at AMC.

Medical Marijuana, Inc. subsidiary Kannaway has hired Stephen Jones as its latest chief marketing officer. Jones has worked in fields related to direct sales, finance and international logistics for two decades.

Amazon has announced the opening of a new office in New York City, adding 2,000 new positions to the online-retail giant. Roles in the West Side Manhattan office will include finance, sales, marketing and information technology, and the average salary will reportedly be $100,000 per year.

Foot Locker has promoted Jed Berger to chief marketing officer from vice president of brand marketing, a position he has held for the past six years.

Karson Humiston has created a “LinkedIn-esque” cannabis job board, providing potential workers a free service to find work in the rapidly growing industry. Vangsters, as the service is called, has already reported 7,900 candidates and 55 businesses registering for accounts since the end of August.

Steven Wolfe Pereira has joined Quantcast as their latest chief marketing and communications officer, where he will not only promote the brand externally but work with the AI firm’s engineering team to further develop their insights platform. Wolfe Pereira previously held the same title at Neustar since April of last year, and before that has served at Datalogix, Starcom Mediavest Group and Univision Communications.

Immersion has hired Hossam Bahlool to the position of vice president of marketing, where he will lead the corporation’s efforts to advance monetization of haptics on mobile devices.

“Bringing the sense of touch to digital content, we create engaging experiences that are more impactful and real. It was important for us to find an executive to further develop our vision for haptics and demonstrate the value it can bring to our customers and users,” said Victor Viegas, Immersion’s CEO. “Hossam has impressive leadership experience in many of our key markets, including mobile, social and automotive.”

Bahlool joins Immersion from Telenav, where he directed product management and marketing. He has also held the titles of vice president of product at Jingu and director of product management at BlackBerry.

(Editor’s Note: This post will be updated daily until Friday, September 29. Have a new hire tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.)

Job Vacancies 

Director, Marketing Razer USA, Ltd. Irvine, CA
Director, Marketing Sony Music Entertainment New York, NY
Brand Manager BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment America Inc. Santa Clara, CA
Director, Product Marketing Facebook Menlo Park, CA
Sr. Director, Enterprise Marketing PetSmart Phoenix, AZ

Make sure to check back for updates on our Jobs Page.

TV Ad Views Recovering; Marketers Slow To Protect Brand Safety

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FreeWheel has released new information this week, revealing that consumers are returning to live news programming. According to their report, ad views on both linear and digital forms grew by 150 percent between Q2 2016 and Q2 2017. FreeWheel attributes the rise to diversification of options for monetized livestreaming.

Their report also tracked device-specific ad views, recording major growth in streaming and shrinkage for desktops. Services such as Twitch jumped from 1 percent in 2013 to 29 percent in 2017, and desktop ad views dropped from 90 percent to 27 percent over the same period.

Despite brand safety concerns, companies have been slow to change their behavior. According to a study by Advertiser Perceptions, 78 percent of marketers have run a campaign featuring ads on 50 or more websites, and 28 percent displayed ads on more than 1000.

Additionally, while 63 percent of advertisers have discussed implementing digital whitelists, only 14 percent have actually put them into use.

Investment in data centers in the US has undergone record-setting growth, according to information from CBRE. Spending on data centers has grown to $18.2 billion this year to date and is on track to surpass total investment from the last three years combined.

Adobe has released its Q2 report on the online retail industry, revealing that despite rapid growth, social media is still the smallest driver of online traffic. Social’s share of customer engagement grew by 146 percent this year, but still only accounts for less than 5 percent of all retail site visits. Paid search also grew by 45 percent.

Likewise, natural search shrank by 6 percent, but still is the strongest driver of site visits.

Instagram has surpassed 2 million monthly advertisers, the company reported in a blog post. In March of this year the figure was only 1 million, meaning that the social network has doubled its advertiser base in just under six months. Instagram attributes the rise to small and medium-size businesses embracing the platform.

Video content on Instagram is exploding as well: time spent watching videos has risen by 80 percent since the same time last year, and the number of videos produced per day has grown by 400 percent.

Almost two-thirds of marketers worry about the effect of artificial intelligence on their industry, according to a survey conducted by The Drum. Sixty-one percent of respondents believed that AI will result in a loss of jobs, while only 46 percent understood its capabilities.

A new survey by The Creative Group indicates that conversational marketing will have the greatest effect on advertising in 2018, with 33 percent of respondents reporting social messaging as their top priority.

The premiere of Star Trek: Discovery led many smartphone users to discover the CBS All Access mobile app. According to information from Sensor Tower, first-time installs of the app rose by 64 percent compared to the previous two weeks, with 46,000 downloads.

A new study by Deloitte suggests that retail sales will grow by 4 to 4.5 percent this holiday season. The research also forecasts a 21 percent jump in digital sales, to $114 billion in total revenue.