Roblox is working with Google to scale-up advertising, adding the search giant’s immersive ads and allowing users to opt-in to watch full-screen spots of up to 30-seconds to earn in-game perks. The program, known as Rewarded Video, was announced at the IAB PlayFronts where Roblox also touted new partnerships with measurement and brand lift firms including Nielsen, Kantar, IAS, Cint and DoubleVerify “to enable brands to better understand the impact of their investment.” Rewarded Video will be implemented by Google Ad Manager, which offers its own metrics. Gamers will be able to accrue benefits including virtual currency and power-ups. Continue reading Roblox Teams with Google Offering Immersive Ads in Games

San Mateo, California-based game developer Roblox has released a 3D object generator called Cube 3D, the first of several models the company plans to make available. Cube currently generates 3D models and environments from text, and in the future the company plans to add image inputs. Roblox says it is open-sourcing the tool, making it available to users on and off the platform. Cube will serve as the core generative AI system for Roblox’s 3D and 4D plans, the latter referring to interactive responsiveness. The launch coincides with the Game Developers Conference, running through Friday in San Francisco. Continue reading Roblox Reveals Its Generative AI System Cube for 3D and 4D

Barely two weeks after the launch of its OmniHuman-1 AI model, ByteDance has released Goku, a new artificial intelligence designed to create photorealistic video featuring humanoid actors. Goku uses text prompts to create among other things, realistic product videos without the need for human actors. This last is a boon for ByteDance social media unit TikTok. Goku is open source, trained on a large dataset of roughly 36 million video-text pairs and 160 million image-text pairs. Goku’s debut is received as more bad news for OpenAI in the form of added competition, but a positive step for global enterprise. Continue reading ByteDance’s Goku Video Model Is Latest in Chinese AI Streak

Capitulating to outside pressure, after a barrage of media reports citing unsafe conditions for minors, Roblox is implementing new safeguards. Parents can now access parental controls from their own devices in addition to their child’s device and monitor their child’s screen time. New content labels and improvements to how users under age 13 can communicate on Roblox are additional protections that are now baked into the platform. “We’ve spent nearly two decades building strong safety systems, but we are always evolving our systems as new technology becomes available,” explained the Roblox. Continue reading Roblox Tightens Child Safety Guidelines Amidst Media Outcry

Online gaming platform Roblox has banned kids from “social hangout” spaces — areas that feature communication through voice chat or text and offer “free-form 2D user creation” experiences where users can do things like share drawings. Roblox has also added safeguards to prevent those under the age of 13 from playing, searching or discovering unrated games. Roblox has imposed the restrictions following allegations that it has failed to protect its younger users. This is the latest such update by a string of social platforms that have imposed guardrails designed to protect young users as lawmakers turn up the heat on child online safety. Continue reading Roblox’s New Child Safety Measures Target Hangout Spaces

During the 10th annual Roblox Developers Conference (RDC 2024) in San Jose, the gaming platform announced it is opening to global currencies in addition to its own Robux, which generates billions in virtual transactions each year. Starting later this year, a small test bed of developers will be able to charge real money for games that charge fees, with a program expected to open “to all eligible creators by mid-2025.” The massively multiplayer online platform that lets users build online game worlds also discussed a project to develop its own AI foundation model to power generative 3D creation on the platform. Continue reading Roblox Adds Real Currency, Teases Its Coming Generative AI

TikTok is widely launching its promotional discovery feature, TikTok Spotlight, which lets marketers tap into its vaunted “For You” feed. Movie studios, TV networks and streamers are invited to promote their products adjacent to For You feed content identified as having related interest. “TikTok Spotlight identifies applicable TikToks on our platform and attributes an anchor link” that “drives audiences to a dedicated landing page where they can discover more details,” like synopsis, cast, and user-generated content. Users can link to streaming platforms, digital storefronts or theater ticket sales “directly from the landing page.” Continue reading TikTok Spotlight Offers Studios, Networks New Marketing Tool

IKEA is opening a virtual Roblox store and inviting gamers to apply to work there for a real paycheck. “The Co-Worker Game,” set in the Swedish firm’s virtual universe, invites Roblox fans to “live their home furnishing dreams.” Ten participants will be hired at the rate of about $17 per hour to roleplay as retail staff in the Roblox world. In addition to allowing IKEA to explore gaming and IP, the company is hoping to create a bit of hiring cachet and groom future employees. Those who don’t make the cut as hires can participate for fun — and the opportunity to learn some potentially marketable skills. Continue reading IKEA Accepting Applications for Hires at Roblox Virtual Store

Netflix announced it is launching a “digital theme park” in early access on the Roblox online gaming platform. Web-based universe “Netflix Nextworld” will feature mini-games, easter eggs, watch parties, user-generated content and more “in 3D interactive spaces” based on characters and content from popular Netflix franchises such as “Stranger Things,” “One Piece,” “Cobra Kai” and the “Rebel Moon” movies. There will also be an activity based on the upcoming animated series, “Jurassic World: Chaos Theory.” Users will be able to collect objects and wearables from the shows and movies to post in their Fan Pods, which can be shared online with friends. Continue reading Netflix Teams with Roblox in Creation of ‘Digital Theme Park’

Fox Corporation’s FAST service Tubi has launched a development hub for aspiring filmmakers called Stubios — “a fan-fueled studio” that promises to “put the power to greenlight content” in the hands of fans via this non-traditional feeder system for diverse talent. Working with actress-producer Issa Rae’s ColorCreative management company, Stubios is television’s take on UGC and the social media influencer pipeline, a path for trending creatives “to find success in Hollywood,” according to Fox. “Stubiorunners,” as creatives accepted into the program are called, will have the ability to get audience feedback on “everything from casting to key art.” Continue reading Tubi Development Hub ‘Stubios’ Lets Fans Greenlight Content

A 2024 Digital Media Trends study by Deloitte says media and entertainment companies “should be thinking more about the world ahead than the one they’re being forced to leave behind,” a suggestion underscored by the fact that 60 percent of Gen Zs surveyed prefer watching user-generated content on social platforms to programming offered by streaming services “because they don’t have to spend time searching for what to watch.” Both Gen Zs and Millennials also believe they get better recommendations from social media than the commercial platforms (54 percent). Continue reading Gen Z, Millennials Prefer Social Videos to Streaming Services

YouTube has added new rules requiring those uploading realistic-looking videos that are “made with altered or synthetic media, including generative AI” to label them using a new tool in Creator Studio. The new labeling “is meant to strengthen transparency with viewers and build trust between creators and their audience,” YouTube says, listing examples of content that require disclosure as “likeness of a realistic person” including voice as well as image, “altering footage of real events or places” and “generating realistic scenes” of fictional major events, “like a tornado moving toward a real town.” Continue reading YouTube Adds GenAI Labeling Requirement for Realistic Video

The NFL playoffs coupled with heavy streaming and the return of scripted broadcast programming sent January television viewership to a four-year high, according to Nielsen’s The Gauge, which charted a 1.4 percent viewership increase year-over-year — described as noteworthy in a month in which the NFL playoffs typically drive viewership higher. January 2024 included three of the top 10 highest-viewership TV days since The Gauge debuted in May 2021. YouTube continued its streaming dominance for the twelfth consecutive month, with 8.6 percent of January TV streaming viewership, according to The Gauge. Netflix was number two at 7.9 percent. Continue reading Nielsen: TV Viewership Hits Four-Year High Led by YouTube

More U.S. adults say they regularly get news from TikTok, according to a Pew Research study that says this bucks the general trend of news consumption declining or remaining flat at other social media sites over the past few years. Since 2020, regular TikTok news consumption among American adults has more than quadrupled to 14 percent, from 3 percent, Pew finds. Among younger adults, news consumption is even higher, with 32 percent of those ages 18 to 29 claiming to regularly get news on TikTok. This compares with 15 percent of those 30 to 49. Continue reading TikTok on the Rise as News Source, Facebook and X Decline

Kaiber, the AI-powered creative studio whose credits include music video collaborations with artists such as Kid Cudi and Linkin Park, has launched a mobile version of its creator tools designed to give musicians and graphic artists on-the-go access to its suite of GenAI tools offering text-to-video, image-to-video and video-to-video, “now with curated music to reimagine the music video creation process.” Users can select artist tracks to accompany visuals to build a music video “with as much or little AI collaboration as they wish.” Users can also upload their own music or audio and tap Kaiber for visuals. Continue reading Startup Kaiber Launches Mobile GenAI App for Music Videos