Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• Apple is building an advertising network for live TV as part of its deal to stream Major League Soccer games next year. (Bloomberg)

• With support from Amazon, Mojo Vision has added Alexa Shopping Lists to its smart contact lens. (Progressive Grocer)

• TikTok lowered its 2022 internal ad revenue forecast to $10B from its previous target of $12B. (The Information)

• Google is getting rid of similar audiences segments for new campaigns starting in May. In August, similar audiences segments will be removed from all existing campaigns. (Search Engine Land)

Awards / Festivals

• Jimmy Kimmel will host next year's Oscars, making it his third time in the role. (THR)

• The Maryland Film Festival will go on hiatus in 2023 as organizers reassess the business model. (Fox)

• Luke Combs won entertainer of the year at the Country Music Association Awards for the second year in a row. (AP)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• AMC Theaters is partnering with Zoom to let audience members video chat from the comfort of their local multiplex beginning next year. (Variety)

• AMC Theaters saw 53M attendees in Q3, up 32% YoY, and total revenue of $968M. (THR)

• Black Adam topped the US box office for a third weekend in a row with $18.5M in ticket sales, bringing its domestic total to $137M. (AP)

Gambling / Casinos

• California voters rejected sports betting despite initiatives by Native American tribes and the wagering industry. (ESPN)

• Wynn resorts will open Gulf Arab's first casino at Ras Al Khaimah resort. (Reuters)

• US commercial gaming set a new record in Q3 with revenue topping $15B for the first time. (Yogonet)

Live Events / Attractions

• Bruno Mars added 10 more dates to his Las Vegas residency in January and February. (Billboard)

• A Dancin' revival will hit broadway in March. The show has been reimagined by the daughter of original creator Bob Fosse. (NYT)

• U2 will perform the first concert at the new MSG Sphere in Las Vegas on September 29th 2023. (LV Review Journal)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Conan O'Brien is launching a radio channel called Team Coco Radio on SiriusXM this month. (THR)

• YouTube’s Music and Premium services have 80M+ paying subscribers combined, up 30M YoY. (Variety)

• Spotify revamped its Apple Watch app, adding larger artwork and new features like direct downloads. (Tech Crunch)

• Podcast listener growth is expected to slow globally in the post-pandemic climate. (Insider)

  

• Amazon Music users can no longer select individual songs to play unless they upgrade to the $9/mo unlimited plan. (Insider)

Crypto / NFT / Metaverse

• Binance pulled out of a deal to acquire rival FTX after FTX failed initial due diligence checks. (Gambling News)

• The UK parliament started an inquiry into NFTs and will also study blockchain technology in general. (Bloomberg)

• OpenSea will enforce creator royalties on all collections following community backlash. (Coin Telegraph)

OTT / Streaming

• Squid Game is on track to become Netflix's most valuable title if it adds two more seasons. (Axios)

  

• Netflix launched Triviaverse, a new interactive trivia experience. (Tech Crunch)

• Amazon launched a new annual subscription tier in India, giving users access to Prime Video Mobile Edition for $7.30. (Tech Crunch)

• Hulu will raise the cost of its live TV bundle by $5/mo beginning in December. (Tech Crunch)

• YouTube will soon roll out its Go Live Together co-streaming feature to select creators. (Tech Crunch)

• Peacock Premium Plus customers will soon have 24/7 streaming access to their local NBC affiliate in each of NBC’s 210 affiliate markets. (Streamable)

• Disney+ added 12.1M subscribers in Q3 to pass 235M. Hulu also added 1M subs while ESPN+ added 1.5M. (THR)

• FuboTV reached a record high for its North American subscriber count in Q3, ending the period with 1.23M. (Fierce Video)

• YouTube Shorts are making their way to TV screens following months of development and new feature roll-outs. (Tech Radar)

• Lionsgate+ has left Spain and plans to leave Germany, Belgium and more to focus on LATAM, Canada and the UK. (Gearrice)

• Disney+ has passed Hulu to become Japan’s third largest SVOD, though its 3.6M subscribers are still less than Prime Video’s 16.5M and Netflix’s 7M. (TV Asia)

• Warner Bros. Discovery moved up the launch of its new platform, which will combine the HBO Max and Discovery+, to Q2 '23 instead of Q4. (TTVNews)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• London is the top holiday travel destination for Americans this year, with bookings up 20% from 2019. (Forbes)

• US households will shell out an average of $1.5K on holiday gifts this year, in line with 2021 spending. (CNBC)

• 20% of US adults are planning to shop on Black Friday, while 17% are waiting until after Thanksgiving weekend to shop for the holidays. (Retail Dive)

• US millennials plan to spend the most this holiday season across gifts, travel, and entertainment. (PWC)

  

Social Media

• Instagram rolled out an in-app scheduling tool to all professional accounts. (Tech Crunch)

• Decentralized social network Mastodon has reached 1M active monthly users in the wake of recent Twitter drama. (Tech Crunch)

• Instagram wants to take advantage of large screens and is updating its web interface to do so. (Tech Crunch)

• Meta released new creator monetization tools, including subscriptions on Instagram and new NFT options. (Social Media Today)

Video Games

• Netflix is releasing a new game, Stranger Things: Puzzle Tales, based on content from Season 4 of the show. (Tech Crunch)

• AirConsole game developer N-Dream is bringing thousands of games to the company’s car dashboard screens in a partnership with BMW. (The Next Web)

• Roblox's Q3 daily active users were up 24% YoY to 58.8M while its revenue grew 2% YoY to $517.7M. (Tech Crunch)

Live Sports

• Brazilian influencer Casimiro will livestream one match per day from the FIFA World Cup in a broadcasting deal with FIFA including all matches of the Brazilian National Team, the semi-finals and the final. (PR Newswire)

• The average on-screen Quality Index Media Value of a sleeve patch for the full regular MLB season is projected to exceed $12.4M, more than any other professional sports jersey sponsorship in the US. (Nielsen)

  

• In the US, 98% of the 50 most-watched broadcast programs from Q1 '21 - Q3 '21 were sports programming. (Nielsen)

• Roku is adding sports directly to the homescreen to help users see which games are on and quickly start watching with a supported streamer. (The Verge)