*Carlo Versano*
Brands with an insatiable appetite for marketing on social platforms have a new way to reach engaged users at scale, according to Adam Cohen-Aslatei, vice president of marketing at the Jun Group.
Mobile games and other "utility apps" like dating services are capturing users' attention more than social media , Cohen-Aslatei said, and companies would be wise to shift their advertising priorities, too.
"People report being more focused, more relaxed, and more engaged" while playing games compared with social media, Cohen-Aslatei said Tuesday on Cheddar. Games also have relatively consistent content that is safer for brands than user-generated content that can be controversial, offensive, or worse.
Studies have shown social media can be bad for your [body image](https://www.bbc.com/news/health-45006627). It's where teens are turning to try and cope with [depression](https://hopelab.org/reports/pdf/a-national-survey-by-hopelab-and-well-being-trust-2018.pdf). It's rife with [misinformation] (https://www.technologyreview.com/s/611806/how-social-media-took-us-from-tahrir-square-to-donald-trump/), [conspiracy theories] (https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-congress-socialmedia/social-media-companies-defend-filtering-practices-before-congress-idUSL1N1UD10Y), and [trolling] (https://variety.com/2018/digital/global/ruby-rose-batwoman-quits-twitter-following-trolling-1202902971/).
By contrast, the gaming environment is "going to be 100 percent brand safe," Cohen-Aslatei said, adding that there are more than 800,000 mobile games for marketers to choose from.
Gaming interfaces also typically involve a full-screen experience that shows ads only when users elect ー what Cohen-Aslatei called a "value exchange" between the brand and consumer.
The rapidly growing gaming market, where more than 200 million Americans play each month, is showing itself to be a place to reach people in a "mental mindset" that's conducive to the messages advertisers want to deliver, Cohen-Aslatei said. He's advising his clients to diversify their ad dollars with an eye toward mobile games.
"You reach people who are really 100 percent interested," he said, increasing the chances they'll move down the "marketing funnel."
Nvidia on Wednesday became the first public company to reach a market capitalization of $5 trillion. The ravenous appetite for the Silicon Valley company’s chips is the main reason that the company’s stock price has increased so rapidly since early 2023.
Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global, breaks down September’s CPI print and inflation trends, explaining what it means for markets.
A big-screen adaptation of the anime “Chainsaw Man” has topped the North American box office, beating a Springsteen biopic and “Black Phone 2.” The movie earned $17.25 million in the U.S. and Canada this weekend. “Black Phone 2” fell to second place with $13 million. Two new releases, the rom-com “Regretting You” and “Springsteen — Deliver Me From Nowhere,” earned $12.85 million and $9.1 million, respectively. “Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc” is based on the manga series about a demon hunter. It's another win for Sony-owned Crunchyroll, which also released a “Demon Slayer” film last month that debuted to a record $70 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration says flights departing for Los Angeles International Airport were halted briefly due to a staffing shortage at a Southern California air traffic facility. The FAA issued a temporary ground stop at one of the world’s busiest airports on Sunday morning soon after U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy predicted that travelers would see more flights delayed as the nation’s air traffic controllers work without pay during the federal government shutdown. The hold on planes taking off for LAX lasted an hour and 45 minutes and didn't appear to cause continued problems. The FAA said staffing shortages also delayed planes headed to Washington, Chicago and Newark, New Jersey on Sunday.
Boeing workers at three Midwest plants where military aircraft and weapons are developed have voted to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a strike that started almost three months ago. The strike by about 3,200 machinists at the plants in the Missouri cities of St. Louis and St. Charles, and in Mascoutah, Illinois, is smaller in scale than a walkout last year by 33,000 Boeing workers who assemble commercial jetliners. The president of the International Association of Machinists says Sunday's outcome shows Boeing hasn't adequately addressed wages and retirement benefits. Boeing says Sunday's vote was close with 51% of union members opposing the revised offer.
The stunning indictment that led to the arrest of more than 30 people — including Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier and other NBA figures — has drawn new scrutiny of the booming business of sports betting in the U.S. The multibillion-dollar industry has made it easy for sports fans — and even some players — to wager on everything from the outcome of games to that of a single play with just a few taps of a cellphone. But regulating the rapidly-growing industry has proven to be a challenge. Professional sports leagues’ own role in promoting gambling has also raised eyebrows.
