Wonder’s Dinner Theatre

PRESENTED BY KISWE

It’s Thursday, Future Party. Want to know just how impactful a viral trend can be on a brand’s sales? Look no further than Guinness — the Irish beer that’s been around since 1759. The challenge of “Splitting the G” in an official Guinness glass on your first sip has led to a 17% sales uplift and consistent double-digit revenue growth. Demand is so hot to show off the sip skills that Guinness is now building a second brewery to keep up. Suddenly, we’re very thirsty.

Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of the COVID shutdowns that consequently hobbled the entertainment industry. Looking at the state of it today, things have landed somewhere between “back to normal” and “cementing a new normal.”

The Big Picture: As the world reopened during the waning days of the pandemic, entertainment companies wondered if people would go back to doing things in person, or if the advent of streaming technology would keep them glued to the couch. Turns out, it’s a bit of both.

Behind the Scenes: It’s high time for an entertainment-industry physical. Here’s a health check, courtesy of NYT:

The Future: So, what’s the prognosis? By and large, people still enjoy gathering IRL for their favorite movies, shows, concerts, and games. But they’ve become pickier about what gets them out of the house. They’ll attend blockbusters like Inside Out 2 in theaters opening weekend or spend whatever it takes to see Taylor Swift when she comes to town… but almost everything else is up for debate. The key to the industry’s long-term health may be in creating a sustainable infrastructure for more than just the biggest to survive.

For years, the Smosh crew has ruled social media — pioneering YouTube comedy and shaping the creator economy as we know it.

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Growing food-delivery empire Wonder is acquiring food-centric media company Tastemade for roughly $90 million.

The Big Meal: While Wonder has the infrastructure to get anyone any meal, making the food go viral is another matter. By bringing in Tastemade as its in-house media specialist, the company hopes customers will eat with their eyes first, so they order even more.

Between the Dishes: Tastemade joins Wonder’s growing portfolio of acquisitions, including meal-kit brand Blue Apron and delivery platform Grubhub.

Final Order: With Tastemade, Lore hopes to build an AI-driven mealtime “super app,” per WSJ. The ultimate goal is for the app to check your health through various diagnostics, allow you to set your health goals and budgets, and then autonomously “feed you breakfast, lunch, and dinner” based on that data. That would sure take a lot of thinking out of daily meals, giving customers more time to plan interesting new recipes from popular chefs… maybe the ones they see on Tastemade.

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73.4% of you voted Digital creators in yesterday’s poll: Who’s having a greater impact on entertainment right now (digital creators or Hollywood)?

“As a 25-year-old, I can’t say I’ve ever really tapped into the whole Hollywood thing. Digital creators account for 99.9% of my entertainment. Outside of a few classics, movies/shows just aren’t my jam.”

“Neither, to be honest, but def not Hollywood. They keep digging themselves into a hole. They think they can manipulate people, but those days are over.”

“I need the Hollywood ‘happy ending.’ It’s often not there in the independent projects.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎵 The LA Philharmonic is putting on a free concert at the Hollywood Bowl for people who fought or were directly impacted by the area’s recent wildfires.

🎮 Mike Verdu, the Netflix exec in charge of creating generative AI games for the streamer, has left the company.

📺 San Diego Comic-Con is going international with a new convention in Malaga, Spain, in September.

🛰️ NASA partnered with Irish satellite-intelligence startup Ubotica to launch an AI-powered satellite platform that can automatically process Earth insights from space.

🔋 The US power grid added 50 gigawatts of capacity for solar energy — more than any other type of power — last year.

👓 Google is in talks to purchase eye-tracking tech firm AdHawk Microsystems, revitalizing the company's smart-glasses ambitions.

🍫 MrBeast now profits more from his Feastables brand than he does from his YouTube business, which operates at an $80 million loss.

📱 Snap is introducing AI Video Lenses, a set of AR filters powered by its in-house system, exclusively for Snapchat Platinum subscribers.

🤳 Best Buy is putting creator storefronts on its digital shelves, so influencers can curate product recommendations.