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This is the second installment of our quarterly 鈥淎d Spending Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps ad buyers and sellers calibrate their spending and revenue mix against the market.

Twitch reported 5.14 billion hours watched and 212 million total hours streamed, dwarfing competitors like YouTube Gaming, which posted 1.94 billion hours of watch time, and Kick, at 533.9 million hours. Its community鈥攔ooted in video games but expanding into esports, music, talk shows, and even cooking鈥攁ttracts a diverse base of creators, resulting in high watch-time numbers.

Car manufacturers are integrating gaming platforms, streaming services, and interactive displays for entertainment experiences. This transformation is opening new opportunities for content providers and advertisers to reach audiences during travel. Why it matters. The shift toward autonomous vehicles is creating new avenues for entertainment and commerce.

Users watched over 400 million hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices. 4K video uploads rose 35% in 2024 as creators invested in higher production value for TV viewing; gaming and tech review channels lead 4K adoption, as their content particularly benefits from higher resolution.

Meanwhile, in Q4, FanDuel reclaimed its top spot in US gross gaming revenues (GGR) with 35%, according to Eilers & Krejcik Gaming. DraftKings had briefly taken the lead during Q3. Gambling ad spend seeks out live sports coverage. US ad spend in the gambling and casino sector reached $734.8 million for the period of January 2023 to November 2023, per MediaRadar.

Outside search, new opportunities for awareness will arise with more personalized, full-funnel ad products in CTV, social, gaming, and premium publishers. The spread of voice and visual search may also open up new forms of discovery spurred by the physical environment, including in stores. The shrinking of the consideration phase of the journey will continue.

During our testing of ChatGPT search for price comparisons, we were able to source the cost of an Asus ROG Ally X gaming handheld from three retailers: Best Buy, Amazon, and Newegg. ChatGPT quickly surfaced item pricing from each seller, along with real-time inventory information and product links.

Industry impact: Roblox鈥檚 moves align with broader trends across gaming and social platforms facing mounting pressure to protect children online. US children spent an average of 139 daily minutes on Roblox in 2023, per Qustodio by Qoria. By tightening communication features and empowering parents, gaming services show they can respond to scrutiny in attempts to regain trust.

OpenAI partnered with Future, the owner of Marie Claire, Tom鈥檚 Guide, PC Gamer, and Tech Radar, to include their content in its ChatGPT search product. Zooming out: The two AI companies are facing scrutiny and legal challenges over the information used to train their generative AI (genAI) models.

Speak is still developing its platform and curriculum and isn鈥檛 yet considering gaming functions or loyalty features for its app. 鈥淲hen there鈥檚 a tug of war between gamification and engagement and efficacy, we will pick efficacy 100% of the time,鈥� Zwick said, per TechCrunch. The decision to prioritize efficacy over gamification could limit Speak鈥檚 ability to sustain user interest.

Global metaverse revenues from gaming, services, ecommerce, and advertising are projected to hit $54.50 billion by 2028, per S&P Global. Our take: Unlike Apple鈥檚 and Meta鈥檚 closed ecosystems, democratized XR and VR spreads hardware and software development鈥攁nd ecosystem expansion costs鈥攁cross various partners.

Conversely, time with digital devices applies to many potential activities (social media, video, gaming, audio, etc.). Other than TV鈥檚 decline and sub OTT鈥檚 rise, consumer time with most activities will be relatively stable year to year. TV will lose 7 minutes in 2024, and sub OTT will gain 6. But nothing else on the digital or traditional side will shift more than 2 minutes in either direction.