Lab Weekly — 03/08/2019
Play as a lifestyle, APAC POV on 2019 Outlook, plus weekly news and stats roundup
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Lab Originals
How digital forces are transforming the way we play, both online and offline, and what brands need to do in response
By Sharon Soh (Head of Strategy, APAC, UM Worldwide)
How the trends from our Outlook report are playing out across the diverse markets in the Asia-Pacific region
In case you missed it…
The Two Factors Driving The Future of Mobility
Electrification, automation, and the push-and-pull between politics and market economy
2019 Mobile World Congress Recap
The smartphone market is getting interesting again after years of relative stagnation. Foldable and 5G phones wooed the crowd, but the future of mobile remains in flux.
By Lin Liu (Chief Strategy Officer, UM China)
How the four trends from our Outlook report are playing out in China’s unique digital ecosystem
News Analysis
AT&T Shakes Up WarnerMedia Leadership As It Prepares For D2C Launch [New York Times]
With longtime CEOs of HBO and Turner departing, AT&T is signaling its serious intent to emphasize the integration it seeks as it prepared to launch a multi-tiered streaming subscription that combines the premium content of HBO with the kind of basic cable content from the Turner networks, along with movies from Warner Bros. While this move will inevitably end up diminishing HBO’s premium branding and therefore its tastemaker status, integration is also AT&T’s best shot at ensuring its D2C streaming service will have enough quality content to convince customers that are already experiencing subscription fatigue that this is yet another streaming service they need.
That being said, it could be dangerous for WarnerMedia to compete with Netflix on Netflix’s terms. They likely won’t be able to match Netflix’s skyrocketing spend on content, and with new entrants from Apple and Disney ready to launch around roughly the same time frame, user acquisition is going to be even tougher than today. Ironically, the best way for WarnerMedia to stand out from an increasing number of OTT services vying for consumer wallet may just be to keep HBO’s prestige branding and leverage that as a differentiation point to acquire users.
Related: Video streaming service BritBox, created by the BBC and ITV, plans to launch in the UK [CNET]; Viacom signs a streaming partnership with OTT video service FuboTV [The Information]; Disney to launch streaming service on Japanese mobile network Docomo [THR]
Amazon To Open New Grocery Stores Separate From Whole Foods [ARS Technica]
This move, combined with the announcement that Amazon will close all of its pop-up stores inside Whole Foods locations, Kohl’s stores, and malls around the U.S., seems to suggest a strategic pivot in terms of Amazon’s approach to the grocery market. Details are still scarce on what Amazon plans to do differently with the new stores, but chances are they will be designed from the get-go to accommodate online orders, integrate with Amazon Prime, and perhaps differentiate from Whole Foods’ upscale positioning with new product selection, perhaps with more of Amazon’s own private label products.
Related: Amazon to close all of its 87 pop-up stores in the US beginning in April [CNBC]; Amazon opens up ads in AmazonFresh to win over CPG brands [Business Insider]; Target created an Amazon-like marketplace [Digiday]; Amazon has abruptly stopped buying products from thousands of wholesale vendors [Bloomberg]
Google Brings Its Duplex AI Restaurant Booking Assistant To 43 States [TechCrunch]
After stunning the crowd at last year’s Google I/O developer conference, and inspiring dozens of think pieces on the topic of AI ethics, Google is finally rolling out the Duplex feature to the general public. Although limited to Pixel 3 owners at the moment, this marks a milestone in the development of voice assistants. As their use cases continue to expand, AI-powered digital assistants will continue to take over many mundane tasks for users, including some basic interactions with brands, especially customer service.
Related: Tumi has applied AI-powered solutions from partner AgilOne to personalize the messages in its outbound marketing to positive results [Digiday]; HSBC is working on a rewards program that uses AI to predict how customers might redeem their credit card points and adjust offers accordingly [Digiday]; Replika and other projects that are developing “emotional” chatbots and AI capable of discerning human feelings [Wired]
Luminary Aims To Be The Netflix Of Podcasts With Big Stars And Paid Subscriptions [New York Times]
The interesting thing about Luminary is the unorthodox approach it is taking to monetize podcast content, which typically follows the ad-supported free access model. Judging by its venerable lineup of content backed by bona fide celebrities, Luminary is betting on star power and premium audio content to convince people to pay for podcasts. It is too early to tell if Luminary could deliver a user experience that justifies the subscription cost, or whether it could keep up producing high-quality content to retain subscribers. But if they do succeed, it will no doubt drive some podcast creators to join their camp and thus widen the media consumption gap we detailed in the “Media Haves and Have-nots” in our 2019 Outlook report.
Related: Washington Post builds tech that dynamically inserts ads into podcasts [link]; Spotify launches new program for podcasters [link]; SiriusXM plans original podcasts, shows and more for Pandora [Engadget]
Daimler, BMW Autonomous Alliance Seeks To Define Self-driving Rules [Reuters]
The two German auto brands have always had a collaborative relationship when it comes to developing autonomous vehicles, so this official alliance is a natural progression. As mobility evolves towards a utility-like service, the automobile industry will increasingly need to work together to standardize its automation technologies and policies so as to anticipate regulatory interferences.
Related: Waymo starts selling sensors to lower cost of self-driving cars [Bloomberg]; Waymo to partner with the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance to develop autonomous taxis and related services [Nikkei Asian Review]; Daimler and BMW invest €1 billion in urban mobility co-venture [Fortune]
Stats To Know:
- Podcasting has firmly crossed into the mainstream, now with over half of Americans age 12+ saying that they have ever listened to a podcast, according to a new study by Edison Research and Triton Digital. One-third of the population reported having listened to a podcast in the last month, representing 90 million monthly listeners in the U.S.
- New data from Edison Research show Facebook lost an estimated 15 million fewer users in the United States compared to 2017, with the biggest drop is in the key 12- to 34-year-old demo. However, the percentage of the population using Instagram grew from 9% to 16% in the same timeframe.
- According to a new study from Adobe, 59% of consumers say they are using voice assistant more this year, and 1/3 of consumers find voices ads to be more engaging and less intrusive than other forms of advertising.
- EA’s ‘Apex Legends’ tops ‘Fortnite’ record with 25 million sign-ups in a week, and now has more than 50 million total players worldwide after just over a month since the surprise release.
