Cathy Applefeld Olson Hollywood & Entertainment New UTA study finds 40 percent of US consumers ages 13-54 directly pay creators for interactions. It’s the question brands of all ilks are grappling with: How to engage younger consumers, particularly elusive Gen Z, who are disinterested at best and skeptical at worst when it comes to traditional advertising. A new study from talent, entertainment and sports agency UTA backs a different proposition. With 40 percent of US consumers ages 13-54—65 million people—directly paying creators for interactions through fan clubs and platforms, the re ..read more

Product placement is ubiquitous, but there are some tactics that work far better than others. BY BETH L. FOSSEN5 MINUTE READ In “The Variant,” an episode from the Disney+ hit streaming show Loki, it’s tough to miss the barrage of product placements, with fast-paced action and dialogue taking place in front of Charmin toilet paper, Dove soap, and Arm & Hammer deodorant. At one point, Loki barrels down an aisle with vacuum cleaners and fights off an opponent with a corded vacuum while iRobot vacuums are prominently featured on the shelf. As someone who studies such advertisin ..read more

Shared ownership and control of online platforms is the way forward Nov 8th 2021 BY LI JIN: CO-FOUNDER AT VARIANT FUND AND FOUNDER OF ATELIER VENTURES Imagine a world in which Facebook is owned and operated by its users, who vote to decide its policies on content moderation and data collection. Those users—whose photos, videos and other posts give Facebook its value—collectively co-own the platform, and the earliest adopters have seen the value of their stakes appreciate greatly as it has grown in scale. A core team works day-to-day on platform development, but product strategy and resou ..read more

The multibillion-dollar — and growing — piece of the entertainment pie outside of Hollywood’s traditional studio ecosystem is increasingly drawing major advertisers. BY ALEX WEPRIN  NOVEMBER 3, 2021 5:15AM As Hollywood models of theatrical films and linear television undergo rapid change, TikTok, Twitch streams and sponsored posts may be morphing from side businesses to the lucrative main event in some cases. Established stars like, say, Will Smith are seeking to grow their personal brands on a widening array of digital platforms. At the same time, these platforms are creating new s ..read more

As the creator economy matures, it’s hitting some bumps. Investors, marketers and influencers share how they’re navigating VC hype, building direct-to-consumer businesses and their shifting relationship with brands. BY KATI CHITRAKORN The creator economy — the industry of influencers, bloggers, videographers and anyone on social media monetising their online fanbases — is now 50 million strong, according to a 2020 report by venture capital firm SignalFire. Social media platforms want them, and brands and marketers want to work with them. The industry is moving on from the d ..read more

Taylor Hatmaker@tayhatmaker / 10:09 AM EDT•October 19, 2021 How can you anticipate the content people want before they want it? How do you figure out where your audience lives online and what they like? What is a creator, after all? At TechCrunch Disrupt 2021, we were joined by Julia Munslow, special projects editor at Yahoo News, Alexis Gay, comedian and host of Non-Technical Podcast, and Sushma Dwivedi, who leads communications and brand marketing at Daily Harvest. All three of our speakers come at the challenge of building a brand online from different angles, and ..read more

Cast Away featured Tom Hanks as a FedEx executive who was hellbent on time efficiency. But did the company pay for product placement in the movie? BY LINDSEY DEROCHE Robert Zemeckis’ Cast Away gives FedEx and their logo a fair amount of screen time, but did the shipping giant specifically pay for product placement within the film? The now-iconic 2000 survival drama stars Tom Hanks as Chuck Noland, a FedEx troubleshooting manager who’s always making every second of the day count in pursuit of efficiency, across a range of Cast Away movie locations. Viewers are introduced to ..read more

Product Placement has been around at least since Jules Verne mentioned commercial maritime companies in his works (1873), or Manet integrated beer product placements to his painting of Les Folies bergeres (1882). Fast forward to 2024, product placement is a $33 billion business. Product Placement is Complicated Product placement is complicated and inaccessible, on top of an uncharted negotiation and integration process. The problem facing Content Creators: how do Content Creators fund film productions and streaming video projects? No access to high touch custom deals Too small to appeal to pr ..read more

Out with the old and in with the new. Jane Neal | Jul 02, 2021 From Reese’s Pieces in E.T. to Tony Stark’s Audi E-Tron, movie and TV viewers are accustomed to product placement in scenes and even as plot elements. According to Investopedia, product placement (also known as embedded marketing) is a form of advertising in which branded goods and services are featured in a production that targets a large audience. Products have been placed in films as a type of quid pro quo since way back in the era of silent cinema. A Hershey bar’s prominent presence in the Oscar-winning 1927 film, “Win ..read more

Product Placement integrations range from unobtrusive appearances within an environment, to prominent integration and acknowledgement of the product within the plot itself. Placements can be Visual (the sight of Tony Stark in an Audi R8), Verbal (Forrest Gump’s repeated mentioning of Dr. Pepper), or both (the Reese’s Pieces shown, and talked about, in E.T.). InView / OnScreen Product Exposure A visual placement involves placing a brand into a piece of media where it is viewable. It could be an advertisement in the background of a shot, or it could be of more importance in a scene, such as a ca ..read more