Month: May 2024

A group of former executives from the esports and creator spaces have formed a new venture intended to unify the talent and content sides of the digital entertainment business.

The new venture, talent management firm and digital content studio Fixated, was founded by Zach Katz, the former president and COO of FaZe Clan, Jason Wilhelm and Dean Johnson, former executives at the talent management company Talent X, and YouTuber Luc Boulch.

Fixated has been operating in the shadows since late 2023 and already employs over 30 people across its talent and content divisions. The company is formally launching this week after accruing a portfolio of custom gaming experiences, such as a TurboTax-branded Fortnite map published last month, as well as a roster of creators that includes Kylie “Sketch” Cox and chess influencers Alexandra and Andrea Botez.

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There is no shortage of cookieless solutions being touted throughout the digital advertising industry – though the jury is still out as to how good of a replacement they’ll be for third-party cookies. But a relatively new option popping up more in conversations is data collaborations.

During a closed-door town hall session at the Digiday Publishing Summit in March, a publisher exec, granted anonymity under Chatham House rules, spoke about their growing interest in participating in data collaborations with brands. Data collaborations, often abbreviated to data collabs, put the publisher in a more authoritative position, they said, as well as enabled them to scale up the portion of valuable audiences that advertisers could reach. 

“[Advertisers] want to combine data assets to have a better together story, which allows them to think about ways of taking [the brand’s] first-party data and activating it on an unaddressable or on unfindable users that have historically been left behind,” said the publisher during the town hall. 

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At last week’s annual IAB Newfronts, major ad-funded platforms were busy announcing a range of new content, ad formats and measurement tools.

While major social platforms announced new AI upgrades for users and advertisers, streaming TV startups also unveiled new ways to use visual AI and machine learning for targeting and measurement. Meta talked about using AI to predict organic creator content for paid partners, using ML to suggest creators for brands and tools for resizing videos for Reels. Hours later, TikTok said it is adding generative AI to its Pulse Lineups ad product while also vowing to challenge the newly signed ban in U.S. court. Snap, which positioned itself as “not social media,” discussed ways it is using AI to help create augmented reality lenses for users and advertisers within minutes. 

Giants like Samsung also focused their events on ways they’re using AI for content, ads and audiences. Meanwhile, streaming providers that announced new AI tools include Canela Media, which said it’s using AI for contextual ad targeting like having an engagement ring ad during a romance show. Another, Samba TV, said it’s working with advertisers to beta test its new Samba AI platform that uses visual AI to identify people and products in shows to help with contextual targeting and measurement. 

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Analysts expected revenues between $35 and $40 million for the action-comedy feature. Universal Studios spent $13.9 million in national TV advertising to promote the movie.

Google users who are suing the company over alleged privacy violations are now battling with it over a key issue in the case — whether the company adequately disclosed its analytics practices.

Google held its NewFronts event last week. If the DOJ finds Google violated antitrust laws, it will schedule a “remedies” phase to determine next steps that could increase competition in the search
market, according to some reports.

A whole solar system of comedy stars has been hurt making this film — including Melissa McCarthy as a former NASA employee .

At its NewFronts presentation, TikTok announced new premium ad-placement options and additional publishing partners.