While the sportswear leader’s focus on direct sales channels helped it amass a sizable digital loyalty program, it wasn’t enough to compensate for the loss of third-party retail customers and the cost of running its own D2C business.

Now, the brand is developing cost-cutting plans, returning to e-commerce marketplaces, and working to grow its NikePlus loyalty program — where members spend significantly more than the average customer.

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For example, ad spend in the mobile gaming industry alone is projected to grow 10% this year, generating $6.3B. Top investors are jumping on the opportunity. Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) announced a $600M fund called GAMES FUND ONE in May 2022. 

Seventeen percent of all the deals a16z participated in last year went to the gaming & entertainment industry, and 79% of these deals were early-stage.  

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The streaming service generated $31.6B in revenue in 2022. It also claims to represent around 5% of total direct-to-consumer entertainment spending. 

However, the company is still transforming its business model to pull ahead in the intense competition between social media, gaming, and streaming giants in the entertainment arena. 

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But after bringing in $260M in funding, momentum in the space has stalled, with funding drying up in part due to the broader venture slowdown (link-in-bio companies have raised just $12M in 2023 YTD).

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Microsoft is betting that generative AI could tip the competitive scales in its favor for decades to come.

The tech giant has poured billions into ChatGPT maker OpenAI to become one of its largest stakeholders, while also providing computing infrastructure to power the startup’s resource-hungry operations.

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Get up to speed with our explainer video — and read on for the full report.

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Brands, retailers, and individual sellers around the globe are increasingly using technology to enable full shopping experiences on social media platforms. The approach is projected to drive $1T+ in sales by 2025, according to Accenture — up 2x from 2021. 

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However, supply chain issues, a tight labor market, and evolving customer habits — such as the growing use of third-party delivery apps — have made customer loyalty more difficult to earn and profit margins harder to maintain around the industry.

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Its stories and characters are among the most beloved — and the most lucrative — in the world. Mickey Mouse is the top licensed character franchise globally. Disney pulled in $82B in total revenue in FY2022, driven largely by the value of its intellectual property (IP). 

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Microsoft was one of the first companies to see the value in virtual worlds, leading to its $2.5B acquisition of Minecraft in 2014. Now, with over $16B in gaming-related revenue generated in 2021, it’s one of the largest gaming companies in the world. 

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Microsoft, Meta, and Qualcomm have stepped up their efforts in tech product development, investments, partnerships, and acquisitions.

Download the report to find out:

• The major tailwinds fueling big tech activity in the metaverse
• The competitive advantages of different tech giants in the metaverse
• Where big tech is competing in the metaverse

REPORT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Big tech is showing an increasing interest in gaming. Microsoft and Meta have made a combined 15+ gaming acquisitions, with the goal to own immersive entertainment in the metaverse.
• Tech giants are expanding outside of their core products to compete in the metaverse. Meta is attempting to bring semiconductor development in-house to reduce its dependency on players like Qualcomm, while Qualcomm is bundling its AR/VR chips with AR/VR software development tools.
• Big tech is doubling down on their competitive advantages. Qualcomm is dominating in developing processors for AR/VR. Meanwhile, Meta is exploring social networks and advertising opportunities, while Microsoft is building an arsenal of gaming content it will offer exclusively on Xbox platforms.

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But conventional production approaches might not be able to support brands and retailers delivering personalized, engaging digital content at scale. Synthetic media — content that has been generated, edited, or enabled by artificial intelligence — could be the solution. 

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The creator economy is growing and evolving rapidly, with new platforms and content types continuously emerging. Content creators (such as influencers) and the platforms where they build their followings represent a significant portion of consumers’ online behavior, including who they listen to when it comes to buying decisions — as well as, increasingly, where they are making direct purchases.

The future of the creator economy will depend on depth rather than breadth of reach to followers. The playing field is shifting in favor of smaller, more niche content creators, with new ways to monetize, like tokenized content and branded merchandise. The space also faces new opportunities from synthetic media such as virtual influencers. 

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Earnings calls and news mentions of the tech have skyrocketed in recent months, as the pandemic continues to push digital interaction to the forefront of our lives — from virtual work to gaming to social media.

AR/VR tech is also seeing major boosts in hardware and has been making its way into an array of enterprise use cases, from workforce training to oil rig inspections.

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