Inworld Raises $50M to Create AI-Powered Virtual Characters

Virtual character developer platform Inworld AI has raised $50 million in a Series A funding round led by Section 32 and Intel Capital. The Mountain View-based startup — one of six companies chosen to participate in the 2022 Disney Accelerator — will create virtual characters for games, the metaverse and other entertainment and marketing applications. Because it is focused on providing an interior life, or “mind,” Inworld AI is platform agnostic, with APIs that work across Unity, Unreal Engine, Omniverse and others. Another convenient feature: it lets developers build characters by describing them in natural language. Continue reading Inworld Raises $50M to Create AI-Powered Virtual Characters

Businesses Experiment with DALL-E 2, Report Mixed Results

OpenAI’s powerful text-to-image generator DALL-E 2 is still in beta, but businesses are already testing it for commercial use. Apparel firm Stitch Fix has been using it to visualize fabric and color personalization, while Heinz tapped the AI system for a marketing campaign. Cosmopolitan used it to design a magazine cover. Others have leveraged the image engine to generate logos and thumbnails. These early adopters are identifying technical issues that OpenAI says it is addressing as it readies DALL-E 2 for enterprise. Foremost among the complaints is the lack of a dedicated API for public use. Continue reading Businesses Experiment with DALL-E 2, Report Mixed Results

Scripps Launches a Marketing Campaign to Promote Free TV

Cincinnati-based station group E.W. Scripps is launching a $20 million marketing campaign to educate consumers about all the free programming they can access via broadcast television by simply using an over-the-air TV antenna. Scripps has launched a website that lets users input a ZIP code to return a list of free channels available in their area. For instance, in Los Angeles, there are more than 160 free broadcast channels available to antenna users. At a time when inflation is driving households to look for ways to cut costs, Scripps feels the campaign is timely. Continue reading Scripps Launches a Marketing Campaign to Promote Free TV

Video-Game Advertising Projected to Top $14 Billion by 2028

Video games as an advertising medium is still relatively niche, but a migration to streaming has paved the way for what observers predict will be explosive growth. Ad Age recently identified gaming as “the next huge advertising channel.” Fast Company posits U.S. in-game advertising, or IGA, is currently between $6-$8 billion, which is less than 6 percent of U.S. digital advertising. Analytics firm Research Dive predicts in-game advertising will grow to $14 billion worldwide by 2028. Fast Company says here are nearly 3 billion global players — one in four people — and growing by 15 percent a year. Continue reading Video-Game Advertising Projected to Top $14 Billion by 2028

YouTube Shorts Is a Serious Marketing Challenger to TikTok

YouTube Shorts, now two years old, is making a splash with the marketing community, which finds the feed of vertically oriented videos of up to 60 seconds a viable alternative to TikTok content. Creators of YouTube Shorts can add music, hashtags and other features. In June, the company said that of YouTube’s more than 2 billion logged-in viewers watching videos each month, about 1.5 billion of them are also watching YouTube Shorts, a statistic that captured the attention of advertisers and the media by surpassing TikTok’s 1 billion monthly users in five years. Continue reading YouTube Shorts Is a Serious Marketing Challenger to TikTok

Instagram Rolls Out Invitation-Only Creator Marketplace Test

Facebook’s photo- and video-sharing app Instagram is implementing a creator marketplace test on an invitation-only basis to brands active in the United States. Brands invited to participate in this early phase can use the Meta Business Suite of tools to filter creators by age, gender, interests and number of followers. They’ll also be able to filter based on the demographics of a creator’s engaged audience. Announced last year, the Instagram creator marketplace is designed to facilitate connections between brands and the creators they may find it useful to connect with regarding partnerships and marketing campaigns. Continue reading Instagram Rolls Out Invitation-Only Creator Marketplace Test

TikTok Draws Criticism for Undisclosed Sponsored Content

TikTok is facing blowback for lax advertising disclosures. While the platform offers various ways to identify paid promotion, its marketing policies appear to operate on an honor system, and while some creators label their posts as advertising or partnerships, many do not. Where a financial relationship exists with regard to products mentioned, the truth in advertising rules enforced by the Federal Trade Commission and state attorneys general require media partners to disclose that funds will change hands. As part of a renewed national interest in digital consumer protections, particularly related to child safety, the area is getting increased scrutiny. Continue reading TikTok Draws Criticism for Undisclosed Sponsored Content

ByteDance on Hiring Spree for Expansion of Its Pico VR Unit

ByteDance appears ready to make a splash in the U.S. virtual reality market and is expanding the presence of its Pico VR unit on the West Coast, as per recent job listings. The Beijing-based ByteDance purchased Pico in August 2021, and now has more than 40 open positions posed for operations in San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle. According to Pico’s website, the company makes “best in class” wireless VR headsets, and in addition to the U.S. has operations in Europe, China and Japan. Many of the current job listings are for a content division called Pico Studios. Continue reading ByteDance on Hiring Spree for Expansion of Its Pico VR Unit

Twitter Expands Its E-Commerce Efforts with ‘Product Drops’

Twitter is expanding its online shopping initiatives with features including “Product Drops,” which allow e-commerce merchants to tease upcoming availabilities. “People come to Twitter to talk about products and product drops every day. And merchants have long been dropping products on Twitter without any native product support,” Twitter explained. Product Drops connects the two. Participating merchants can add a “Remind Me” button on upcoming product tweets. Users who tap it receive in-app notifications around the drop that connects to a “shop on website” button, while clicking the tweet itself opens a product page with pricing and details. Continue reading Twitter Expands Its E-Commerce Efforts with ‘Product Drops’

Direct-to-Consumer Marketers Seek Social Media Alternatives

Direct-to-consumer startups that previously relied mainly on Facebook and Instagram to reach customers continue to adapt strategies more than a year after Apple’s privacy policy revisions forced massive change on the digital advertising sector. Brands that were marketing before Apple’s privacy changes took effect last year had an opportunity to build customer bases using the uniquely specific targeting opportunities once offered by social media. Newer entities, however, are struggling to get a toehold as they search for comparable tools, looking well beyond the traditional social platforms. Continue reading Direct-to-Consumer Marketers Seek Social Media Alternatives

Twitter Announces Deals with FOX Sports and NBCUniversal

Twitter has entered into a deal with FOX Sports, which will create and distribute exclusive content on the social platform for all upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 tournaments. Appearing at the IAB NewFronts this week, Twitter also talked-up new and expanded deals with media partners NBCUniversal, E! News, Condé Nast, Essence and Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Revolt Media. The NewFronts announcements are important for Twitter, which accepted a buyout offer by Elon Musk that has some advertisers worried. Continue reading Twitter Announces Deals with FOX Sports and NBCUniversal

TikTok Launches SoundOn to Help Music Creators Monetize

TikTok has launched a distribution platform for music creators, SoundOn. The all-in-one platform, which also offers marketing assistance, is designed to help artists develop and launch their careers. Released in beta last year, SoundOn has already gone live in the U.S., UK, Brazil and Indonesia, enabling music to be directly uploaded to TikTok and Resso, a music streaming platform ByteDance launched in 2020. SoundOn enables “artists to grow their fanbases, harness their creative voice and get their music heard worldwide,” TikTok says. Creators keep 100 percent of their streaming royalties in year one and 90 percent thereafter. Continue reading TikTok Launches SoundOn to Help Music Creators Monetize

Concerns Arise Over Meta’s Semiquincentennial Sponsorship

In exchange for $10 million to the non-profit America250 Foundation, Meta Platforms has reportedly signed on as the official social media partner of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Reports say the firm will be integrally involved in producing and promoting the Semiquincentennial and events leading up to and on July 4, 2026. However, the move has been described as controversial, with some stakeholders concerned Meta’s insider status may deter other companies from buying sponsorships. The agreement is expected to be up for a vote today in Pennsylvania. Continue reading Concerns Arise Over Meta’s Semiquincentennial Sponsorship

TikTok Shakes-Up Its Content Format with 10-Minute Videos

TikTok is pivoting to longer videos. The social platform that became the fastest-growing ever on the strength of short-form videos and had competitors scrambling in its wake to copy the format, is now allowing users to post videos of up to 10 minutes. Launched by China’s ByteDance in September 2016, TikTok was initially formatted for videos of 15-seconds or less. In 2018, when it merged with Chinese lip-sync service Musical.ly, it permitted videos of 1 minute, and then bumped up to three-minutes last summer. By September 2021 TikTok announced it had hit one billion users worldwide in only five years. Continue reading TikTok Shakes-Up Its Content Format with 10-Minute Videos

Indie Cinema Leverages NFT, Blockchain, Social Media Tech

Online film sales tool Cinemarket, a platform for international buyers and sellers, is launching Cineverse, which intends to make it possible to market and distribute films and associated items using NFT and blockchain technology. The company reportedly has about 300 films in the pipeline for its soft launch at the this month’s Berlin International Film Festival and is prepping for a major debut May 21 at the Cannes Film Festival. Cineverse is designed to be an open platform that uses social media tools to allow filmmakers and marketers to connect directly with audiences. Continue reading Indie Cinema Leverages NFT, Blockchain, Social Media Tech