Ad Vendors / Platforms / Data

• UK ad spend is expected to grow by 9.2% this year to £34.9B, with cinema ad spend up 174% YoY. (Performance Marketing World)

  

• Uber will sell ad space inside Uber and UberEats apps, along with in-vehicle digital ads, sponsored mails and storefront ads. (Reuters)

• Google is upgrading the design of search ads with new visual elements that emphasize business names and logos. (Search Engine Journal)

• Adobe is replacing old Pantone spot colors with black when users load files using them due to changes in Pantone's licensing. (BB)

• Facebook’s algorithm delivers ads differently based on who is pictured in the ad, skewing ad delivery along largely demographic lines. (Northeastern)

Awards / Festivals

• Tár leads the Gotham Awards film nominees with five nods, followed by Aftersun with four nominations. (THR)

• Top Gun: Maverick and Hocus Pocus 2 were among the movie nominees for the 2022 People's Choice Awards, while Abbott Elementary and Euphoria scored in the TV categories. (THR)

• Adam Sandler will receive a performer tribute at the 2022 Gotham Awards. (Deadline)

Cinemas / Theatrical

• Warner Bros' Black Adam opened with $67M in the US and $73M internationally for a $140M global haul. (AP)

• In the US, 1 in 3 Gen Z adults have seen a horror movie in theaters in the past month, compared to 12% of all adults. (Morning Consult)

  

• Terrifier 2 's box office jumped 84% WoW amid rumors of audiences passing out, bringing its US total to about $5.3M. (Yahoo)

Gambling / Casinos

• Apple paused gambling ads in App Store pages in response to developers' complaints. (Yogonet)

• A social betting platform called Wolfden launched in Australia. It combines betting, social media and news, all in one place. (Gambling News)

• Evolution posted a 37% revenue jump in Q3 driven by increased Live Casino demand and growth in all regions. (Yogonet)

Live Events / Attractions

• Netflix opened an immersive store in LA where shoppers can take photos alongside props from its most popular shows including Stranger Things and Squid Game. (Reuters)

• Life of Pi is coming to Broadway. It will begin preview performances in March 2023. (NYT)

• Next year, Disney will host a series of experiences, exhibitions, and music events across EMEA to celebrate its 100th anniversary. (THR)

Music / Audio / Podcasts

• Taylor Swift beat the Spotify record for most streams of an album in a single day with her album Midnights. (Deadline)

• Spotify hit 195M paid subscribers in Q3, up from 188M in Q2 and above the expected 194M. (THR)

• Though its Q3 revenue increased 21% YoY, Spotify's gross margins dropped to 25% due to softness in the ad market. (Reuters)

Crypto / NFT / Metaverse

• Claire's partnered with Roblox to launch Metaverse City, its first metaverse activation, to engage Gen Z and Gen Alpha. (AdAge)

• L'Oréal has partnered with Meta to launch Metaverse Startup Accelerator. The 6-month program will take place next year with 5 France-based Web3 companies. (AdWeek)

• Hong Kong will legalize retail crypto trading as part of its effort to become a hub for digital assets. (Bloomberg)

OTT / Streaming

• Disney and Formula 1 have reached a deal that will bring F1 races to ESPN+ through the 2025 season. (THR)

• Streaming accounts for 37% of all TV viewing in the US, and Americans spend more time watching YouTube than Prime Video, Disney+ and HBO Max combined. (Bloomberg)

  

• YouTube released three new ad options, including Moment Blast and new audio ad options. (Social Media Today)

• Vidio has become Indonesia’s fastest growing streaming service thanks to its focus on local content. (Rest of World)

• Australia’s Foxtel announced its entertainment SVOD, Binge, will get an ad-supported tier in early 2023, though the price has yet to be revealed. (AdNews)

Retail / Lifestyle / Travel

• About 40% of US adults plan to travel between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and 53% of US holiday travelers making reservations will make them by the end of October. (Bankrate)

• Amazon will start accepting Venmo as a payment method for US customers ahead of Black Friday. (Retail Dive)

• Over 70% of shoppers worldwide are considering holiday financing, and about 60% are spending less this year due to the state of the economy. (Retail Dive)

Social Media

• A third of US adults now get their news from TikTok, while over half get their news from Twitter. (Quartz)

  

• WhatsApp experienced an outage that affected users around the world. Though the app is back online, Meta did not give a reason for the outage. (BBC)

• Instagram is testing out a new feature that lets users add a song to their profile, reminiscent of MySpace. (Social Media Today)

• Twitter will let users buy, sell, and display NFTs directly through tweets in partnership with four marketplaces. (DeCrypt)

Video Games

• TikTok is launching a dedicated gaming channel featuring a variety of mobile games with ads and additional content that users can purchase. (Digital Trends)

• Microsoft's Game Pass now accounts for 15% of its gaming revenue. The number of PC Game Pass subscribers has grown by 159% YoY. (Engadget)

• VR gaming startup ForeVR Games raised $10M to grow its library of Wii Sports-like titles. (Tech Crunch)

Live Sports

• The NHL introduced digital ads that are projected along the boards for fans watching game broadcasts. (Sporting News)

• A majority of US LIV golf fans haven’t watched any of the series’ prior 2022 tournaments, and they’re more interested in watching the PGA Tour than LIV. (Morning Consult)

  

• The NHL partnered with Supponor to develop ads that are sold like commercials, with brands buying 30-second increments based on the game clock. (Sporting News)