蘑菇AV

A 28.79% rise in stock price reflects investor confidence in AppLovin鈥檚 ability to expand beyond gaming and establish itself as a leader in digital commerce advertising.

Doctors use entertainment as education: Video games keep physicians鈥� skills sharp long past medical school.

鈥淯nderstanding how consumers are spending their time and money is paramount to your business being successful,鈥� our analyst Jeremy Goldman said on 鈥淭he Future of Digital 2024鈥� webinar. Here are three shifts in media consumption, purchasing behavior, and mobile usage, and how each is prompting new advertising strategies in streaming, social search, and gaming.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why gaming is a digital advertising hotbed, how consumers are embracing shoppable media, and what happens now that the ride-sharing industry has bounced back. Tune in to the discussion with our forecasting writer Ethan Cramer-Flood.

Expensive headsets aside, Apple already has the necessary developer, app, gaming, fitness, and streaming video ecosystems to build its next big thing.

We forecast gaming video content ad revenues to reach $3.2 billion. Nintendo said it would offer more information on the Switch 2, potentially including a release date, on April 2. This was originally featured in the 蘑菇AV Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.

Gaming console ownership in Mexico was the highest in Latin America. Some 38.0% of respondents reported owning a gaming console, placing Mexico No. 1 in the region and No. 4 globally. Desktop/laptop ownership decreased 6.1 percentage points YoY. This significant decline brought desktop/laptop ownership to 55.7%. This was the lowest in Latin America, illustrating the shift toward mobile devices.

Its usage eclipses most of our generic umbrella categories, such as social network users, connected TV (CTV) viewers, or digital gamers. Ad-free and ad-supported sub OTT viewership are both extremely popular. Over 233 million people will regularly watch sub OTT video this year. Concurrently, around 196 million people will be AVOD viewers.

The initiative is backed by a $400 million investment from South Korean gaming firm Nexon and will emphasize 鈥渢ransmedia鈥� storytelling, allowing digital assets to be shared across films, games, and other media. Despite their push into AI, their latest Netflix film, 鈥淭he Electric State,鈥� was largely made using traditional methods apart from AI voice modulation.

That category peaked at $1 billion in 2022 but plummeted 21% YoY to less than $800 million in 2023, per The American Gaming Association. Trendspotting: YouTube鈥檚 move to curb online gambling content is also in line with industry pivots鈥擳witch restricted gambling streams in 2023鈥攁nd broader trends in content moderation, brand safety, and responsible advertising.

Social media (41%) and traditional media (43%) are expected to take the largest spending cuts, while linear TV, gaming (24%), digital display (20%), and podcasts (16%) will also see declines. When will it happen? The biggest spending pullbacks are likely to occur in Q2 (34%) and Q3 (37%), as advertisers react to mid-year economic shifts. Tariffs are accelerating ad budget cuts.

Video game adaptations have historically presented mixed results鈥攚hile 鈥淭he Super Mario Bros. Movie鈥� was a massive hit and 鈥淭he Last of Us鈥� was well received, projects like 鈥淗alo鈥� fail to take off, while others like 鈥淢inecraft鈥� remain uncertain bets. Traditional studios must strategically acquire undervalued IP while extracting maximum value from existing franchises.

Chip maker NVIDIA last week launched a pre-roll ad product for cloud gaming that makes video game advertising look a lot more like connected TV (CTV).

UK regulators block Microsoft鈥檚 attempt to consolidate a gaming behemoth, sending Activision Blizzard stock spiraling. Microsoft faces a tough antitrust fight.

Sightline Payments will work with Visa to power its Play+ cards, which can help digitize the cash-heavy casino and gaming sector.

The average US adult spends just over an hour playing video games per day, according to our estimates. Such a sizable share of attention offers a prime opportunity for brands to advertise in games鈥攅specially since traditional barriers to brand advertising have been lowered. Big changes have opened opportunities for brands across platforms.

US adults will spend 10.6% of their mobile time playing games this year, per our forecast. But we expect just 3.9% of US mobile ad spend will go to the category in 2023.

On today's podcast episode, we discuss why regulators changed their mind on approving the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, how the gaming industry will react, and what the deal means for advertisers. "In Other News," we talk about how much of political ad spending has gone digital and how Google is tightening the reins on bulk email senders. Tune in to the discussion with our analysts Daniel Konstantinovic and Gadjo Sevilla.