On today's episode, we discuss the current state of the so-called "metaverse," what the future of mixed reality could look like, and how marketers are getting involved. We then talk about what the new James Bond film’s opening weekend tells us about the state of the movie theater industry and what kinds of alternative content theaters might feature to stay relevant. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer Briefing director at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman.

Disney's exclusive theatrical runs come back with "Shang-Chi": The Marvel movie will only come to Disney+ after 45 days—and while that's better than straight-to-streaming, it's still an adjustment for theaters used to 90-day runs.

On today's episode, we discuss what an out-of-home (OOH) advertising comeback will look like and which areas are driving growth. We also examine how OOH movie theater advertising could recover, the significance of March Madness's return, when people will want to attend sporting events again, and replacing "primetime" with something more personal. Tune in to the discussion with eMarketer forecasting analyst Nazmul Islam and senior analyst at Insider Intelligence Ross Benes.

A March 2020 survey from GlobalWebIndex found that 34% of US internet users would livestream music concerts or sports events at home, while 28% expressed interest in livestreaming a theater show. In May 2020, GlobalWebIndex asked UK and US consumers in the Gen Z and millennial generations about the platforms they used to watch a virtual event in the past two months.

However, Gower Street’s 2021 projection is well under half of the $11.4 billion US movie theaters took in in 2019, according to the MPA and Comscore. With movie theaters in disarray, studios turned to other venues to distribute and promote their films. Notably their affiliated subscription OTT services, which spiked by 36.8% in time spent in 2020 as millions stayed home and binged on movies and shows.

Media has been lifted by the resumption of TV production, which has given networks new content to advertise, while entertainment businesses including theme parks, movie theaters, and concert venues have restarted advertising after their pandemic-induced pauses.

eMarketer principal analyst Mark Dolliver, junior analyst Blake Droesch, and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss whether WarnerMedia just killed movie theaters, why Salesforce is buying Slack, why Facebook's buying Kustomer, the first few cases of Facebook's Oversight Board, Nielsen readies to change its TV ratings, shopping carts on WhatsApp, how much cash can fit in your pocket at once, and more.

eMarketer forecasting analysts Eric Haggstrom and Peter Vahle and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss the future of the movie theater. Will movies make a comeback and what will they look like? They then talk about HBO Max with ads, AT&T's possible wireless phone plans subsidized by ads, and Apple One subscription bundles.

eMarketer forecasting analyst Eric Haggstrom and principal analysts at Insider Intelligence Jeremy Goldman, Andrew Lipsman, and Nicole Perrin discuss some very specific predictions for 2021: new leadership at Facebook, Amazon shops for a TV network and movie theaters, streaming services team up, and more.

eMarketer senior corporate account director Michael Civins, forecasting analyst Peter Vahle and vice president of content studio at Insider Intelligence Paul Verna discuss which music platforms Americans use and the growing significance of podcast listening. They then talk about whether TV networks are being too optimistic about H2, how many more voice assistants there are and movies going from theaters to digital platforms much faster.

eMarketer principal analyst Nicole Perrin discusses how the coronavirus will impact tourism. How will it change airlines, accommodation and travel-related ad spending? She then discusses what will happen to movie theaters and ride-hailing services as the pandemic takes hold.

Entertainment will put up a huge growth figure after a rough 2020, as the reopening of movie theaters and amusement parks—along with the intensification of the OTT streaming wars—re-energizes the industry’s ad spending. Retail, surprisingly, will put up the next highest growth rate (34.5%), which is impressive given how high its base already is and that its spending growth has never dipped below 20%.

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising saw the steepest fall, in the context of stay-at-home orders, movie theater closures, and lower levels of travel on roads, as well as by rail and other public transport. Leading OOH firm JCDecaux reported a 28.4% YoY drop in revenues in France during 2020, for example.

These new options—along with movie theater closures and out-of-home activity cancellations—led to a major uptick in users and time spent for OTT, as well as the proliferation of a new term, “subscription fatigue.” So far, however, “subscription fatigue” is just a theory, as subscription OTT powers forward unabated.

As a result, economic pain accrued overwhelmingly to restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, hotels, airlines, travel companies, educational institutions, theme parks, movie theaters, salons, and the like.

Between February and November 2020, entertainment venues and movie theaters saw the worst annual declines in outdoor ad revenues, according to GroupM, as a result of social distancing and mandates against large gatherings. But OOH investments grew for train stations over the same period, by 52% YoY, thanks to increased demand for domestic travel.

Bank’s Cash Plus Card, for example, enables customers to select their 5% and 2% categories quarterly from a predetermined list including categories ranging from apparel and movie theaters to telecom and utility bills.

Disney delays its theatrical return: Straight-to-streaming releases and shorter theatrical windows are dimming hopes of a full movie industry recovery this year. Worse, some changes may be permanent, further hurting the entertainment industry’s ad spending growth.

While there have been signs of recovery—including limited attendance at certain NFL games and the reopening of some movie theaters—there is still no timetable for the return of live events at full capacity. One bright spot for entertainment, however, has been the increase in time spent with streaming services and gaming while consumers stay at home amid the pandemic.