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TL;DR
In a hurry? Here's our pick of the top news items of the week.
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Meta will eliminate fact checkers and replace them with user-generated "community notes" similar to X, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledging this change may lead to more harmful content on Facebook and Instagram. (CNN)
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TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, is encouraging users to migrate to its sister app, Lemon8, ahead of the potential US ban, though the ban law would apply to all ByteDance-owned apps. (Axios)
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Disney will soon combine Hulu + Live TV with FuboTV, and the offering will operate under the Fubo name. It's expected to have 6.2M subscribers and generate over $6B in revenue. (Bloomberg)
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Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and Fox have cancelled their joint sports streaming venture Venu. (The Hollywood Reporter)
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Getty Images is acquiring Shutterstock for $3.7B to create the largest stock media provider, aiming to better compete against AI-generated content tools. (Emarketer)
Audiences
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Young people in their 20s are increasingly joining traditional board game clubs, reflecting a growing desire for offline social interaction among Gen Z and Millennials. (New York Times)
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Two-thirds of US TV viewers prefer ad-supported content to reduce subscription costs, with ad-intolerant viewers becoming more accepting of ads. (Advanced Television)
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Roku announced it has reached 90M streaming households, ranking among the top 10 streaming services in the US. (Deadline)
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Asia-Pacific's streaming market is projected to grow by $16.2B through 2029, with India leading at 26% of growth, while streaming subscriptions are expected to reach 870M subscribers. (Variety)
Platforms
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YouTube dominates India's video streaming market with revenue of 143B rupees, while the overall streaming video subscriber base reached 125M in 2024 and is projected to grow to 287M by 2029. (Business Standard)
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YouTube has partnered with Shopee to launch YouTube Shopping in Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam, challenging TikTok Shop's dominance in Southeast Asia's $149B e-commerce market. (Rest of World)
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Reddit announced two new tools: Reddit Pro Trends, tracking real-time user discussions about brands and products, and AMA Ads, a promotional format for Q&A sessions. (Tech Crunch)
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Peacock will test mini-games and vertical videos on its mobile app to attract Gen Z users, with features including show-based prediction games and video playlists. (Marketing Brew)
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Disney unveiled new advertiser tools, including ESPN's new ad-tech capabilities for live sports programming. (Marketing Dive)
Content
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Prime Video in the US has added Willow Sports' FAST channel and Willow.tv subscription service, expanding access to both free and premium cricket content for American viewers. (Advanced Television)
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Canal+ is pursuing a "super aggregation" strategy to grow from 27M to 100M subscribers through consolidation in Africa, Asia and Scandinavia. (Advanced Television)
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The debut episode of WWE RAW on Netflix drew 4.9M global viewers, with 2.6M US households watching live, making it the most-watched Monday Night RAW broadcast in five years. (Advanced Television)
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Premiership Rugby attracted 2.6M viewers during the Christmas period, a 44% increase from last season's 1.8M record, with Big Game 16 drawing 80,634 fans at Allianz Stadium. (Premiership Rugby)
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Universal's "Wicked" has broken the studio's digital release records, earning $70M in its first week of home entertainment sales, significantly outperforming the previous record of $44M. (Variety)
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Amazon has launched Amazon Retail Ad Service at CES, expanding beyond its $50B ad business to provide ad technology to other retailers. (AdWeek)
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Sony Group will increase focus on anime investments as the Japanese animation market is projected to grow from $22B to $60B by 2030, with Sony's Crunchyroll streaming service growing from 3M to 15M subscribers since 2020. (The Hollywood Reporter)
Tech &
AI-
Meta is testing a new AI feature that creates and displays customized AI-generated images of users based on their selfies, despite potential concerns about the "uncanny valley" effect, to increase engagement with its AI tools. (Social Media Today)
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OpenAI plans to launch its AI computer agent "Operator" this month, though the release has been delayed due to safety concerns about "prompt injection" attacks. (The Decoder)
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Sony showcased an immersive "The Last of Us" experience at CES 2025, featuring interactive LED walls, haptic floors, and motion-sensing weapons that allowed participants to fight virtual Infected in a subway setting. (Engadget)
Location-based
entertainment-
NYC Broadway Week is returning from January 21 to February 9, 2025, offering two-for-one tickets to 27 different shows, including major productions like "Hamilton," "The Lion King," and "Wicked." (CBS News)
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Legoland New York has installed two interactive kinetic dance floors at its Minifigure Skyflyer attraction, each featuring 10 tiles that convert visitors' movements into usable energy while they wait in the queue area. (blooloop)
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Kentucky Kingdom is investing $11M in a new Kentucky-themed land opening in May 2025, featuring three new family rides (including a train ride and bird-inspired swing), 10 re-themed rides, a playground and two dining locations. (blooloop)
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Orlando will see major new attractions in 2025, including Universal's Epic Universe theme park opening on May 22 with multiple rides across five themed lands, Disney World's new nighttime parade and several show updates and SeaWorld's new Arctic flying theater attraction. (Attractions Magazine)
Travel &
hospitality-
Restaurant chains are taking a dual approach to marketing around the new year, with some promoting healthy menu items for resolution-makers while others, like Arby's "New Year, Same You" menu, humorously acknowledge "Quitter's Day" when most people abandon their resolutions by mid-January. (Restaurant Business Online)
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Hotel technology in 2025 will focus on three key areas to maintain profitability amid low rate growth: enhanced e-commerce, actionable data insights through business intelligence platforms and the strategic implementation of generative AI. (Hospitality Investor)
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Consumer spending with travel agents grew 7.5% year-on-year in December 2024, showing continued upward momentum with the highest transaction growth (17.8%) across all sectors. (TTG Media)
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Uber and Delta Air Lines announced a partnership that will allow customers to earn Delta SkyMiles when spending $40+ on Uber Eats orders or taking Uber rides, with the program set to launch in the spring of 2025. (Restaurant Business)
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The Gili Islands in Indonesia is the most searched travel destination by U.S. users in 2024, surpassing destinations like Washington, DC and Miami, despite the remote islands' current clean water crisis. (Travel and Leisure)
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Four key business travel trends in 2024 are a strong recovery with a global value pool of $1.5T, new opportunities in unmanaged travel tech solutions, digital transformation of managed travel, and continued blending of business and leisure travel. (McKinsey & Company)
Gaming
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At CES 2025, accessories manufacturer Genki displayed dummy units of Nintendo's unannounced Switch 2 console, revealing features like a slightly larger design, new Joy-Con controls and an additional USB-C port. (Eurogamer)
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Court filings reveal "Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War" cost over $700M to develop, making it the most expensive in the series, followed by Modern Warfare at $640M and Black Ops 3 at $450M. (GamesIndustry.biz)
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Ghost of Tsushima: Legends will be adapted into an anime series for 2027, co-produced by Crunchyroll, Aniplex, Sony Music and PlayStation Productions, with director Takanobu Mizuno and writer Gen Urobuchi at the helm. (Anime Hunch)
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Fortnite Festival's Twitter account confirmed a Hatsune Miku collaboration coming January 14, with leaks suggesting the virtual idol will arrive with two skins and new songs in the game's music mode. (Game Rant)
