On this special edition of the show, we're taking a look back at some of the most notable conversations we've had this year. In this episode, we discuss what the media world will look like by 2030 concerning digital ads, shopping, banks, pay TV, digital video, and esports.

Gaming is a key component of Netflix’s lofty franchise goals: On its own, gaming can help Netflix increase time spent. But it’s especially valuable in its push to build popular properties into full-fledged multimedia “universes.”

Gaming platforms are much further ahead in terms of adoption of crypto, but they’re not quite there in terms of blockchain integration or scope. Video game platform Roblox, which is pioneering a metaverse-like world, counts nearly 50 million daily gaming users, including more than half of all children in the US as of July 2020, per Morning Brew.

Mobile and desktop/laptop gaming revenues in the region will reach $6.7 billion in 2025, growing at a 7.8% CAGR between 2021 and 2025. The big takeaway: As Southeast Asia moves toward a more digital-oriented way of life, brands can gain and retain buyers and users by leveraging local knowledge and avoiding blanket solutions that might not work for individual markets.

Digital Gaming. Gaming is fast expanding in Southeast Asia: According to Niko Partners, the number of gamers in the region reached 269 million in 2021, and digital (mobile and desktop/laptop) gaming revenue will reach $6.7 billion in 2025 while growing at 7.8% CAGR between 2021 and 2025.

How we got here: Wizarding World has expanded beyond movies to television, Broadway, and video games, but scandals involving its creator and the cast of the “Fantastic Beasts” spin-off series show that not all major film franchises have equal staying power. “Fantastic Beasts” and the rest of the Wizarding World have had trouble escaping controversy. Creator J.K.

Gaming app publishers are more likely to experiment with alternative monetization routes. According to an October 2021 survey by AdColony and Fyber, 39% of gaming app publishers worldwide monetized via in-app purchases, compared with just 6% of nongaming apps.

YouTube is the most popular platform for non-TV video content in the US, with 65% of the country’s short-form video viewers using the service to watch user-generated content, video game livestreams, and the like.

The demand for Nvidia’s GPUs has outstripped supply for years as crypto-miners, gamers, and scalpers have made a beeline to secure all available cards. One result of the shortage is that older GPUs, like 2017’s GeForce GTX 1080 Ti, are being sold for more than their original price.

There’s also overlap with streamers’ growing interest in video game adaptations. One of Netflix’s most popular anime is an adaptation of the “Castlevania” series, and it has commissioned shows based on other popular Japanese game series.

On today's episode, we discuss Facebook's new Ray-Ban smart glasses, whether time spent on TikTok actually surpassed YouTube, what branded gaming on Roblox looks like, how to get noticed as a marketer, whether selling Super Bowl ads early is a good move, how to make friends while working from home, how two people reversed climate change in their hometown, and more. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer principal analyst Suzy Davidkhanian, director of reports editing Rahul Chadha, and analyst at Insider Intelligence Blake Droesch.

By this measure, playing video games eclipsed listening to music, browsing the internet, engaging on social platforms, and watching TV shows or movies at home. The pandemic has driven Gen Z further into gaming and watching others—amateurs and professionals alike—play video games.

Last year, it put a three-hour time limit on digital gaming targeting minors under 14. While this may not necessarily be the norm for the metaverse, since it will constitute much vaster possibilities beyond gaming, we can presume some type of time control will take place. Cryptocurrency is out.

Gaming and tech conglomerate Tencent, which also owns messaging app WeChat, has pointed to the metaverse as an opportunity to expand its gaming business, per TechCrunch. TikTok owner Bytedance has followed in Meta and Microsoft’s footsteps and acquired VR headset company Pico, and Alibaba has plans to release AR glasses.

Mature gaming platforms including Roblox feature virtual worlds where branded content, from the likes of Gucci and Hyundai, has captivated players. But in nongaming metaverses, “it will be a while before marketing campaigns can move beyond gimmicks,” said Nina Goetzen, eMarketer analyst at Insider Intelligence. More like this:. Report: Insider Intelligence’s Tech Trends to Watch in 2022.

Many of the country’s internet users remained avid gamers. A pattern spotted in 2020 was clear again this year: Ownership of game consoles was comparatively low, at 13.4% in H1 2021, yet the average time spent gaming per day was 1:36. Digital audio formats—such as music and podcasts—were also very popular; 87.1% of internet users polled in H1 had listened to such content in the prior month.