Latest news with #CannesLions
Hindustan Times
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
End of content creators? YouTube Shorts to let users make videos with text prompts
Anyone can soon make short videos for YouTube without needing a camera or video editing skills. YouTube is gearing up to integrate its latest AI video generation technology, Veo 3, directly into YouTube Shorts later this summer. The company's CEO, Neal Mohan, revealed this update during his keynote speech at Cannes Lions. This new AI model lets users produce complete short video clips with both visuals and sound by simply entering text prompts, which will make it a significant advance in AI-driven content creation. Currently, Shorts creators use the previous Veo 2 model, which allows them to generate backgrounds through Dream Screen or create standalone clips. While Mohan did not provide detailed features of Veo 3's Shorts integration, he highlighted improvements in video quality and audio inclusion, which suggests these enhancements will be available for Shorts users. Also read: India's digital job scene to expand in 2025 with rise in AI and data-driven roles At present, Veo 3 video generation is accessible through paid subscriptions to Google's AI Pro or AI Ultra plans. It remains unclear whether using Veo 3 within Shorts will require a similar subscription, and Google has not given any clarification on this. YouTube has also announced that Shorts now reach over 200 billion views per day, which reflects their growing popularity. However, the introduction of Veo 3 raises concerns about misuse, particularly the potential to create deepfake videos of celebrities or imitate well-known creators. To address these risks, YouTube is collaborating with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and other partners to develop tools which will allow public figures to control the use of their likenesses on the platform. The effectiveness of these protective measures is still uncertain. Also read: Neurotech and brain data: New frontier of privacy concerns The rise of AI-generated content could also impact the earnings of authentic creators. More than one-quarter of YouTube Partner Program members earn income from Shorts, and the influx of AI-produced videos may saturate the platform, which may potentially push genuine creators to explore alternatives like TikTok or Instagram Reels. Also read: Google I/O 2025: Gemini Live with camera now free for everyone, Veo 3 for AI Ultra and other reveals In short, YouTube's integration of Veo 3 into Shorts aligns with Google's broader strategy to lead the short-form video market through generative AI. While this technology could make content creation more accessible, it also raises legitimate questions about originality, creative value, and the long-term health of the platform in an AI-driven environment.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Gap Inc. CEO explains strategy to balance revenue & relevance
Gap Inc. (GAP) president and CEO Richard Dickson sits down with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity to discuss the US-based apparel retailer's branding journey, customer strategy, and more. Click here to watch more of Yahoo Finance's coverage from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. So let's pick apart brand by brand, the Gap story. What is the Gap story that you're telling this audience? So Gap, as you know, is a 55-year-old brand that really sort of its claim to fame was the personification of American classics, basics that personified style, and it was really about how you wore it, not how we told you to wear it. And the marketing campaigns that we built over time were epic, leveraging music and fashion and big ideas into real marketing and media machines that were arguably what we call fashiontainment. Now along the way, as you also know, Gap lost its way from a storyteller to become a retailer that sold stuff. And we sold a lot of stuff, which we had revenue, but we were missing relevance. And so part of the narrative that we've been working on now is how do you combine relevance to drive revenue? And that's being better storytellers. So we've leveraged, we've gone back to our history to be inspired by it, but essentially create a new playbook for today. Leveraging music, going back to fashiontainment, recognizing that our media mix and up model needs to be where our consumers are, digital, social, influencer, leveraging all of those big ideas whether it's the Get Loose campaign with Troye Sivan, or linen as a fabric that we want to be a leader for, or the various different campaigns we've done recently with Parker Posey that put us right on top of the cultural conversation, that's where Gap should be, that's where we are now and that's where we're going to accelerate going forward. So when I was way back when, when I was an analyst covering Gap, and I wrote some tough stuff, but nonetheless, I I always asked, is Gap going to show up in a big way on the holiday earnings calls? It was a constant question. So for how this holiday season, are you ready to make that big marketing commitment to plaster Gap all over TV? Listen, TV is one area that we will of course, we'll have presence in. But to be relevant today, you need to be everywhere your consumer is. And they're everywhere. It's digital platforms, it's social, it's influencer. It includes some linear. There's a lot of different ways that our brands and brands today need to have consumer conversations. And what I can assure you is that Gap will be part of the cultural and consumer conversation, not only for holiday, but every day leading up to holiday. It is a 24/7 role to be part of consumers' lives. And I think today, you see a much different Gap than you saw just a year ago, and a year from now, you'll see a much different Gap than you see just now. Are you telling all these folks here that your stock ticker changed? First off, I mean, come on, we're Gap. I thought you were at the New York Stock Exchange. Yes, you were GPS. But you were a GPS navigation system for ever. That's right. And and arguably, we were sort of missing the navigation and the destination is Gap. Yeah. And so it was an easy win for us, certainly, your marketing, your ticker everywhere you go. Uh so Old Navy, I, this has to be a prime time in the world and the economy to lean into a value message. Is this, is that correct? Is that what we should expect to see from Old Navy over the next few months? 100%. I mean, Old Navy is the number one specialty apparel value chain in the country in the US. Uh we do have global recognition, but truly an American iconic style, value family proposition in the space. We have leadership market share positions across most categories in the apparel industry. Uh as you know, we've been going after the active space pretty aggressively. We're now the number five active brand uh in the active catego- Old Navy? Old Navy. That's right. Climbing the ranks, consistent quarterly uh comp deliverables, nine consecutive quarters of market share growth. I mean, we're posting more and more excitement, not only in the metrics that matter, but also recognizing that every cohort, lower, middle, and income grew in the last quarter, which really suggests that not only is our product resonating with our core value proposition, but we're starting to attract new customers to the brand, different generations to the brand to consider the style at value proposition. And we believe again, we're just getting started. Um, Banana Republic still on the recovery? I would say it's more than on the recovery. I think that we're in a place right now where if you go into our stores, which I know Brian, you have- Banana Republic shirt. I which looks fantastic, by the way. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yep. We have been working really hard at getting our product narrative back on track. Uh a season after season now, you start to see the brand really come through in design codes, in fit, in function, in feature, and in value. We are a premium lifestyle brand, but we're right at the cusp of that real affordable luxury, if you will. Amazing cashmeres, suedes, leathers, fine details at prices that are truly extraordinary. All told within the brand storytelling DNA, which is really about the modern explorer. So when you go into our stores today, you're going to start to see a very different Banana. In some cases, we've remodeled our stores. So I'm a modern explorer? You you are. Look at where you are. I mean, you're out there, right? And you need to be recognized as what. Yeah. I appreciate it. Well, you know why this shirt fits so well, it's because I have been working out like hardcore, but you got the fit right finally. We did. And that that is that the biggest problem that you fixed at Gap, Old Navy? I've told you this before. The mediums used to fit like larges. Yeah. No, it was a big issue and fit is a really important part of a when you're an apparel company. It's the arguably, it's it's the gatekeeper. It builds trust, it builds loyalty, it builds, it builds reliability. And we've been working across our brands to get that fit right. Uh and as you see, it's working. And so the more that we build that trust and loyalty, and maintain that value proposition with great style, these are brands that are iconic and have much more legroom to grow. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Verge
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
YouTube is plugging Veo 3 AI videos directly into Shorts
YouTube is bringing its Veo 3 AI video generation model, which my colleague Allison Johnson recently called 'a slop monger's dream,' to YouTube Shorts later this summer, according to a Cannes Lions keynote from YouTube CEO Neal Mohan. Shorts creators can already take advantage of the previous-generation Veo 2 model to generate backgrounds with Dream Screen as well as standalone clips. Mohan didn't specify exactly what Veo 3 will enable in Shorts, but he did mention Veo 3's improved video quality and that it can incorporate audio, so presumably those upgrades will be coming to Shorts. It's also unclear if Shorts creators will have to pay to use Veo 3. Right now, generating Veo 3 videos requires a paid subscription to Google's AI Pro or AI Ultra plans. Google didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.
Forbes
11 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
Skyrocketing Demand For Marketing Content Will Just Keep Growing
As life becomes more digital and digital becomes more personalized, marketers say they just need more. A global study of marketers from Adobe released this week at Cannes Lions says the demand for content is through the roof, with 62% saying it's gone up by a measure of at least five times over the last two years. And 71% of marketers expect that demand to increase fivefold again by 2027. The skyrocketing demand comes from broadening customer expectations facilitated by advances in technology. More than 6 in 10 marketers say that customers now expect more personalized interactions with brands. About 46% find that customers now want more audio and video content, while 44% are creating content to enhance a hybrid customer experience—in which a customer interacts with the brand both virtually and in person. And 62% say that customers now expect new content at least weekly. That adds up to a ton of content, literally. Seven in 10 marketers say their organization creates at least 1,000 assets per year, with nearly a quarter of marketing teams churning out between 10,000 and 100,000 assets annually. Current production workflows make that level of work challenging. Adobe found that nearly half of all marketing teams' workflows involve between 51 and 200 people to create, review, approve and activate each piece of content, and nearly 90% have at least three approval stages before assets can be published. The long approval process makes 36% of marketers struggle to find the time for content creation and ideation. Generative AI can now help marketers with some of that content creation. Over half use the technology in multiple parts of their production process, and 84% plan to use it in the next year. This can certainly help teams meet the flywheel of demand, but administrative processes also need to be addressed. If the creative process speeds up, approval to use content also needs to be faster. As it stands now, 58% of marketers told Adobe that 41% of content creation time—roughly 25 minutes of every hour—is spent on administration, reviews and approvals. Reese Witherspoon talks to e.l.f. Beauty CMO Kory Marchisotto at Cannes Lions International Festival Of Creativity. Much of the marketing world is at Cannes Lions this week, sharing the creative wins, new technologies and challenges facing the industry. WPP Media's midyear report shows that there is a lot for the industry to figure out, Forbes contributor Howard Homonoff writes. Total ad revenue growth for 2025 is projected to be 6%, down from the predicted 7.7% at the beginning of the year. The downgrade extends to revenues for the next several years as well, largely owing to the unstable economy. Digital advertising continues to dominate, representing 81.6% of all revenue when including streaming TV, digital out-of-home and digital print. Creator-driven ad revenue is projected to reach nearly $185 billion this year, for the first time surpassing projected revenues for traditional and streaming TV ($162 billion). WPP projects digital revenue will take a more than 87% share of all that comes from marketing by 2030. WPP says search ad revenue, called 'Intelligence Advertising,' is set to grow 7.4% this year. However, that includes generative AI search—and many of the bots and engines people use don't offer advertising just yet. Walmart Walmart has a new AI-powered shopping assistant that will be able to do much more than just help customers select products that fit their needs. Forbes contributor Ron Schmelzer writes that Sparky—the assistant personified by Walmart's trademark yellow smiley face—now can do what many AI-powered shopping assistants do: suggest products, summarize reviews and answer a few real-world questions—like which sports teams are currently playing. In coming months, Walmart plans to add features that go several steps beyond basic: reordering and scheduling services, a feature that can take a photo or video and give a sort of 'how-to' guide for tasks—like 'How do I fix this dripping faucet?' or 'How can I make lunch out of these products?' It will essentially become a shopping agent, Schmelzer writes, turning shopping 'from a search problem into a service experience.' If you're planning a cookout, Sparky will present you with grills, check the weather, suggest menus and schedule for the items to be delivered. It makes sense for Walmart to add these capabilities. According to the retailer's surveys, nearly 7 in 10 customers say quick solutions are the top reason they'd use AI in retail, and 27% now trust AI for shopping advice. Nearly half would be okay with AI reordering household staples, but the same amount said they're unlikely to ever fully hand over control of their shopping to a bot. Sparky combines these two desires: automatic reordering of commonly used items, advice on others. And with such a wealth of information available on Walmart's app, it may also inspire people to begin their shopping on the app itself instead of bypassing it for recommendations provided by an AI-powered search engine. getty A generation ago, the way Americans found out something new—from the latest details of presidential scandals to who killed Laura Palmer—was by watching live TV broadcasts. Today, live TV is increasingly turned off, writes Forbes senior contributor Toni Fitzgerald. A new study from consumer research firm Attest finds that 28% of Americans don't watch traditional broadcast TV in an average day, a number that has been rising year-over-year. Traditional TV viewership has especially been decreasing among younger viewers. More than two out of five Gen Zers say they don't typically watch traditional TV, while 27% of adults between 31 and 49 and 20% of those over 50 say the same. However, people are still watching something on their TVs. Attest found that 86% of people watch it daily through streaming services. Influencers Adam W, Xandra and Wisdom Kaye. The creator economy continues to grow and thrive. Forbes ranked the 50 richest creators across Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, finding they earned an estimated $853 million this year—not counting equity deals for partnering with consumer brands. Honorees on this year's list have a combined 3.4 billion followers, up 24% from last year's total. Leading the pack is Jimmy Donaldson, also known as MrBeast, who is the most followed person on social media. His earnings in the last year are estimated at $85 million, and the YouTube star has expanded beyond digital platforms with candy brand Feastables, fast food chain MrBeast Burger, and his Amazon Prime game show Beast Games. YouTube producer Dhar Mann, who has established his own Hollywood studio with teams of hundreds to create modern back-to-school specials, ranks second on the list. The ranking also includes Adam Waheed, known online as comedian Adam W, who pulls in more than 1 billion views on social platforms each month. Forbes' Steven Bertoni talked to Waheed about his social brand: sketch videos that are an exaggerated take on everyday life, often using high-quality cinematography and complex props. He definitely approaches the creator life as a full-time job, starting at 9 a.m. and posting a sketch every other day by 2:30 p.m. 'You can get 10 million views on a video, and the next day, someone else is getting 100 million views. You must continue putting up those numbers,' Waheed told Bertoni. 'When my back's against the wall is when I thrive.' Every marketing job comes with some busywork, which can be a creativity killer. But AI can take care of a lot of those tasks. Here are seven ways to use it to free up your mind for the type of work you prefer to do. While all of your customer reviews may not be positive, they provide windows into customers' mindsets, as well as opportunities to deliver better customer service and improve your company's processes. Here's how to turn bad reviews around. Weigel Broadcasting Co. is launching its next specialty TV network. What kinds of programs will it show? A. Documentaries B. Talk shows from years past C. Reality shows from years past D. Westerns See if you got the answer right here.
Business Insider
12 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Uber is getting advertisers to pay for your next ride
Uber has a new ad type, paid for by brands, that gives users money off their next rides. Uber execs spoke with BI at the Cannes Lions ad festival as it pitched marketers on its ad business. This article is part of " CMO Insider," a series on marketing leadership and innovation. Need a cab? This ad's got you covered. Uber this week said it's launching a new ad format that lets brands offer its users cash off their next rides. Beverage company Molson Coors is the launch advertiser for Ride Offers. Brands like Coors Light will show up with ads in the Uber app as users check their phones to see where their driver is, offering users an Uber discount. Uber also pitched its newly launched Creative Studio to advertisers attending meetings at its villa set-up in Cannes. This team works on more bespoke offerings for advertisers, like offering rides to Miami F1 Grand Prix attendees in a luxury vehicle sponsored by La Mer, packed with freebie skincare products. In another example, Uber Eats users could order Christmas carolers to their doors, sponsored by the alcohol company Diageo. "Our audience is always looking for an opportunity to drive savings and get affordable things, but also get messages that are personalized and relevant for them," Kristi Argyilan, the global head of Uber Advertising, told Business Insider at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in France on Wednesday. Uber said in May of this year that its ad business, which launched in 2022, had reached a $1.5 billion revenue run rate — the number it expects to achieve by the end of 2025 — which was up 60% versus last year. The company does not break out a more specific ad revenue figure in its financial filings. It serves ads on the Uber app, on in-car screens, in emails to its users, and on car tops. Argylian said Uber is looking at ways to ramp up its ad business outside its cars and apps. It's working on letting advertisers use its data and context about how users have been recently using Uber and Uber Eats to target ads on other websites and apps. An Uber user might be viewing the app to check the arrival of their car, then flip to scrolling on TikTok once they get inside, where Uber can serve an ad specific to that user. It's a similar context to the Meta Audience Network. "Purchase-based data and the location-based data is what's really fueling the experience," said Megan Ramm, global head of sales at Uber Advertising. Paul Frampton-Calero, chief executive of the digital marketing company Goodway Group, said Uber's challenge in capturing ad budgets is that it's operating in a crowded market. It's not just fighting for attention with the likes of Google, Meta, and Amazon. It's also competing with the retail media networks from supermarkets and other companies that already have long-standing brand relationships. "Uber isn't naturally somebody most brands are going to build those strong top-to-top relationships with," Frampton-Calero said. "It's hard enough building a relationship with Google, Meta, Spotify, TikTok, and then having to work out where to put Google in that mix." Still, he added, Uber's advantage is its mix of data. "Uber knows a lot about the type of people that like Mexican food who spend time at a particular part of town and visit the airport four times a quarter," Frampton-Calero said. "Then you can make some assumptions about what a high net income audience looks like and how to market to them."
