Media Minute with Minsky: Sharks, Space, TikTok Apology and "Black Widow"

If you missed Richard Branson's epic flight into sub-orbit space yesterday, you not only missed an historic milestone in the story of normalizing spaceflight for all of us, but you missed a classic 101 on how to Brand. The Virgin logo was everywhere and clearly visible on almost every shot. I still remember the number of intense conversations that I had with creative during my OOH specialist years where they refused to make the company's logo visible. Branson understands and is an expert at branding. All creatives, including digital, should take note. You can watch the highlights here.

TikTok's creator marketplace has become an integral part of bringing brands and TikTok influencers together. But last week, a TikTok comedic creator, Ziggi Tyler (over 375m followers) uncovered a major racial bias in the algorithm. Tyler demonstrated that posting terms in the marketplace like "white supremacy" were allowed while typing "black lives matter" or "black power" or even a statement like "I am a black man" was flagged as inappropriate content. TikTok has since apologized for the issue and committed to fixing the algorithm. You can watch the original post, here.

Omnicom Media Group has formally endorsed The Trade Desk's cookie-less alternative Unified ID 2.0 and will be integrating UID 2.0 in their Omni data platform; although in their announcement they were clear that it is non-exclusive. According to a report in Digiday, Megan Pagliuca, Chief Activation Officer for OMG, indicated that they will be pushing publishers to adopt the solution.

Well, file this one under "who knew this was a thing?" Last month, a group of scientists published an open letter on the dream research website D x E warning of dire consequence of advertisers trying to insert themselves into dreams. Talk about tracking challenges ... Spurred by a Super Bowl promotion by the Molson Coors Beverage Company which used "targeted dream inclusion" or TDI to alter the dreams of those who visited the Coors site and engaged in the online experience prior to the game. A group of 35 dream and sleep researchers signed the letter warning that, "Our dreams cannot become just another playground for corporate advertisers." You can read their letter here.

Solutions Research Group's 14th Annual "Must Keep TV" report which measures 1,400 respondents (12+) surveyed this past May shows the impact that the past year has made on the TV ecosystem. For those keeping track, in the top 10 there were four broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox), one cable network (ESPN) and five streamers (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Disney+, HBOMax). Netflix remains in the top slot, while Amazon Prime moves up two to fourth on the list. Disney+ shifts into the top 10 moving up five to the number eight slot. HBO Max, which had just launched when last year's survey was conducted, came in at number nine.

Disney released initial box office results from this past weekend's Black Widow release and the numbers indicate that theaters are on their way to recovery and yes, simultaneous streaming and in-theater can profitably co-exist. According to Disney, Black Widow surpassed expectations and raked in around $218mm in total globally, bringing in $80mm domestic box office, $78mm international box office, and $60mm streaming on Disney+.

Universal made several changes to their OTT distribution this week. From here on in, the first stop for Universal movies following their theatrical run will be Peacock, not HBO. After a four-month exclusive window on Peacock, the content will go to Amazon Prime Video. Part of the Amazon deal also gives expanded Universal library rights to ad-supported IMDb TV.

News Corp has shut down Knewz, their aggregator of news, aka Apple News, after 18 months.

According to the June 2021 Valve Steam Survey, the Oculus Quest 2 is the top VR headset for Steam and accounts for 31.07% of usage.

Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland has expanded its Netflix partnership to include feature films, gaming and VR content. 

Publicis has launched the "Once and For All Coalition," a multi-year initiative to create "equitable investment" with minority owned media and to create content with minority creators to create a more sustainable infrastructure. Publicis has stated that 21 advertisers and 23 minority owned media companies have joined the initiative. 

According to PwC's latest Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020- 2025, Virtual Reality is the fastest growing segment in the sector over the course of the next few years with growth of 30% CAGR. Overall, PwC is estimating that the Consumer, Advertising and Access portion of the Entertainment and Media sector will drive over $797b in revenue by 2025.

Congrats to Dentsu's Doug Ray on being named Global Chief Product Officer, Media.

Have a wonderful and productive week!

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