NBCUniversal is giving its advertising strategy a makeover. The network vowing to reduce its ad load and planning to roll out new ad formats in the third and fourth quarters. Jason Lynch, Senior Editor of Television at AdWeek, was with us to explain why the move is the first of its kind.
NBCUniversal announced the length of ad time will be slashed 10% across the board. This is a response to the environment built by disruptors such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. Viewers are becoming accustom to these models that have no ad breaks at all, said Lynch. He added that we've seen experimentation with cutting back on commercials, but this is the first time we've seen something on this level from a traditional network.
NBCUniversal, along with several others in the industry, are committing to audience-based targeting, said Lynch. He said advertising used to be bought on age and gender demographics, but now data will be leveraged to target viewers based on deeper information such as whether they are searching for a home.
Memorial Day rang in the unofficial start of summer here in the United States -- and with it, the unofficial start of summer travel. Whether consumers traveled by air or by land, they probably experienced some form of frustration over the weekend. Flyers faced delays and cancellations, and drivers faced the most expensive gas prices ever recorded on Memorial Day. Zach Griff, Senior Aviation Reporter for the Points Guy, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Next-generation gaming ecosystem Joystick recently raised $8 million in a seed round and is in the process of raising a $110 million Series A funding round. Gaming ecosystems are a relatively new type of platform in the Web3 space, allowing users to maximize their play-to-earn gaming opportunities, exchange crypto-currencies, and sell their digital assets. Joystick says its platform is flipping the current model on its head by giving players the opportunity to keep 100% of the revenue they earn. Robin Defay, co-founder and CEO of Joystick, and Michael Le, co-founder of Joystick and TikTok content creator, join Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Abe Stein, Head of Innovation at Sports Innovation Lab, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why the top four spots on his company's 2022 list are European soccer clubs and discusses Sports Innovation Lab's plan to publish data on women's pro sports teams in the not-too-distant future.
Joel Birch, Co-Founder and CEO of Stacked, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he explains why he doesn't see any new catalysts that would lead to a Bitcoin rally at the moment. He also reiterates that now is a good time for long-term Bitcoin investors to buy low.
The dating app Bumble has sponsored bills and pushed lawmakers to criminalize the online practice of sending unsolicited nudes or “cyberflashing." Payton Iheme, Bumble's head of public policy for the Americas, joined Cheddar News to discuss why the app was going after the harassing behavior beyond its own platform. "Now, while we went to work internally in the company, and we created something called private detector to automatically blur those images so the user can decide if they want to see them, there's nothing for the rest of the internet," she said. "And so that's why we went to work with these laws."
The holiday weekend saw Disney+ and Netflix competing head-to-head for streaming views as the Disney behemoth kicked off the unofficial start to summer with its release of "Obi-Wan Kenobi" and Netflix responded with the first part of "Stranger Things" Season 4. The streaming giants caught the eye of Wall Street, and Seth Schachner, the managing director at consultancy Strat Americas, joined Cheddar News to break down the heavy hitters. "This is a very tough, competitive game, and I don't see it getting any easier," he said. "I think you'll probably see more consolidation."
Amid high inflation, shoppers are pinching their pennies in the grocery stores and becoming more frugal when food shopping. However, supermarkets like Kroger are pushing back against passing on the higher costs and demanding reasons for the higher food prices from suppliers.
The founder and president of Cyborg Mobile Kobie Hatcher has been on a strong trajectory to disrupt his industry with a program called The New Technologists. It's not only meant to address the diversity gap within large tech companies but also help pave the way to transform the lives of young BIPOC students. He joined Cheddar News to talk about how he's working to make a difference with the lack of diversity in tech. “There's truly no lack of talent out there. It's just identifying them and letting them know that, hey, I've been in the tech sector for over 20 years. I see you. I know what you can bring, bring it, we need it," Hatcher said.
