The inaugural SXSW Sydney has drawn to a close, leaving us buzzing with the vibes, insights, and entertainment it had to offer. Most importantly, we were proud to be on the schedule with our session on Rewriting the Rules of Sports Marketing, where we explored the changing landscape of sports marketing, the cultural impact it has on people’s lives, and how brands can ensure they’re mastering the new arenas for sports viewing and conversation. It was an honour to present to a packed room and host a panel of industry experts who had plenty of groundbreaking insight to share. Special thanks to the gentleman in the audience who said that was “the best panel I’ve seen all week” – it means a lot! If unfortunately you were left out because the room was at capacity, here you can find a short recap of the event. Watch this space for a long-form write-up coming later this week. In the meantime, if you’re hungry for more, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
X tests $1/yr fee and plans other efforts to stop bots
X is going to charge users to $1 per year for its service – a move X owner Elon Musk has said will help the company combat bots and spam. X is now testing the fee in New Zealand and the Philippines, saying existing users won’t be affected. The fee is part of a broader plan to stop bots that may also include payment, phone and ID verification, in addition to traditional bot-catching methods involving heuristics.
Starting today, we’re testing a new program (Not A Bot) in New Zealand and the Philippines. New, unverified accounts will be required to sign up for a $1 annual subscription to be able to post & interact with other posts. Within this test, existing users are not affected.
Elon Musk has also said that X is going to launch two new premium tiers, confirming previous reports and code sightings. He said that one tier will cost lower than the current $8 per month plan, but won’t reduce ads, and the other tier will be a more expensive one, which will remove all ads. The current premium plan promises to show “half ads” to subscribers.
Meta is bringing broadcast channels to Facebook and Messenger
Meta is bringing its Telegram-like “broadcast channels” feature to Facebook and Messenger after rolling it out to Instagram and WhatsApp earlier this year. The feature lets creators and public figures share one-to-many messages to directly engage with their followers. With broadcast channels, only the creator of the channel can send messages, but viewers can react to messages and vote in polls.
YouTube adds new creator-focused features for shoppable videos
YouTube is introducing new creator-focused features that will allow them to add timestamps to videos for their tagged products and tag their affiliate products in bulk across their video library. These additions will simplify the process of marketing products through YouTube videos and potentially increase sales, helping creators earn more money.
Snap brings AR to schools
Snap is bringing augmented reality into classrooms to help students better understand STEM lessons. Snap and partner Inspirit will create 25 AR Lenses and STEM curriculums that will be used by at least 50 schools across the United States next year. For example, one of the AR Lenses is designed to help students find the volume of a cylinder.
A new interactive report from Ad Age highlights 5 influencer campaigns and the best practices to be learned from each.
97% of creators said in a recent survey that they are already using AI in their creative process, with 58% doing so for generating ideas and 31% in their video editing process.
