Toby Northcote-Smith

Gamification in the Attention Economy: How Companies Can Thrive In today’s attention economy, capturing and sustaining customer engagement is increasingly difficult. With endless choices and constant distractions, businesses need innovative strategies to stand out. Gamification—integrating game-like elements into non-game contexts—has emerged as a powerful tool to compete for attention across various industries, especially in e-commerce. From fashion to fitness, health to finance, companies are leveraging gamification to not only attract customers but keep them engaged, drive loyalty, and improve overall user experience. Across all industries, gamification taps into basic human psychology by fostering competition, providing instant rewards, and creating a sense of achievement. In the attention economy, where capturing and retaining a user’s focus is the ultimate goal, gamification offers an interactive, dynamic, and personalized experience. For companies, this means sustained engagement, increased customer loyalty, and, ultimately, higher conversion rates. As O-ZONE TECHNOLOGIES, LTD from founders Jay Ess and Oleksiy Kvashchenko, continues to enhance their gaming features, companies can invest in an affordable, lightweight, cloud-based SaaS platform that offers unmatched versatility. Seamlessly integrating with both Web2 and Web3 environments, it comes equipped with robust gamification features straight out of the box. Its web-based nature allows businesses to adopt it without the significant investment required for downloadable gaming apps, making it cost-effective and easy to use. Accessible from anywhere, it provides flexibility in offering either standard or immersive experiences, depending on user preference. This gives companies the edge to prepare for future mixed reality experiences without imposing them on customers prematurely, allowing them to adapt at their own pace as wearables and immersive technologies become more practical for everyday use. #gamification #ecommerce #attentioneconomy #ozone #immersiveworlds #metaverse #mixedreality

2

At YouTube, we're thrilled about the possibilities AI is unlocking for creators! We're committed to ensuring our creators and partners thrive in this new landscape, which is why we're building tools that safeguard their creative expression and give them more control. Imagine: - Protecting your unique voice: Our synthetic-singing identification technology will let you easily manage AI-generated content that uses your singing voice. - Controlling your image: We're developing tech to help you detect and manage AI-generated content that features your face. - Choosing your collaborations: We're exploring new ways to give you more choice in how third parties use your content to develop AI tools. We're passionate about empowering creators to embrace AI while maintaining control over their work. With these new tools, we're building a future where AI and human creativity go hand-in-hand on YouTube! See below for more information 👇

64

4 Comments

🙏 A Big Thank You to Our Friends at Tekkie Pinas! 🙏 Grateful to Mark Anthony Wagan for this fantastic article on the recent launch of the Kaia Mainnet. 🎉 It’s exciting to see our efforts being recognized as we continue to push the boundaries of Web3 with LINE’s NEXT WEB SDK. Check out the full article to learn more about how Kaia is set to reshape the future of blockchain. 👉 https://lnkd.in/eSKQMyDu #JBlaze #KaiaBlockchain #MainnetLaunch #Web3 #TekkiePinas #Innovation #Blockchain

11

This episode features Noctil founder Jacob Varghese, who discusses the ins and outs of metadata and how it gets you paid for streaming. https://lnkd.in/gdZy8AWr

4

🎥 Tax Incentives: Boosting Your Production Budget – Part One 🌟 Tax incentives have truly transformed the world of entertainment production! Remember when they were met with skepticism? Fast forward, and today they are game-changers, providing real money to attract productions. States like Georgia, New York, and California offer over $2 billion annually to support TV and film projects. Globally, the market is estimated at $6 billion, is boiling with competition with countries like the UK, Canada, and EU nations vying to attract productions with their own tax incentives to fuel local economies and create jobs. These programs—offering credits, rebates, and exemptions—now make up 20%-40% of production budgets. 📊 Today a well-planned tax incentive financing strategy isn't just crucial—it's a CONDITION to secure a green light from networks, streamers, investors and financiers. But that's just the beginning. Once the tax incentive plan is in place and set motion, it needs constant monitoring to ensure everything stays on track. Otherwise, the results might not match the expectations. In our next piece where we dive into navigating the challenges. Stay tuned.📈🔍 (Photo by Jon Tyson in unsplash, https://lnkd.in/eJRSKS8g)

9

How are you using AI to increase your product's scalability? Figuring out how to take the recipe of our successful live-hosted team building events and use AI to make those events available 24 hours a day, any day of the year has taken our product from something that was extremely resource constrained, to something that is endlessly scaleable and customizable. It's been a super fulfilling project to be a part of! Would love to hear of ways everyone is using AI to scale your business or your self!

1

Dude Perfect raised $100M for global biz expansion. The deal is getting lots of buzz, but our team’s math signals challenges ahead. Let’s break it down… DEAL DETAILS • $100 - 300M growth capital investment • Led by Highmount Capital • Unclear if 100% invested upfront OR draw down of commitment over time • No previous capital raised USE OF FUNDS • Hire mgmt team to expand biz • More live experiences incl int’l tour, consumer products • Grow content formats, frequency, channels, global localization e.g. animation, TV, movies, streaming • Extend brand beyond 5 founders by building talent network • New HQ in Frisco, TX as prod facility and “family-friendly entertainment destination”: – Retail store, podcasts / gaming / fan UGC spaces, trick shot tower, DP museum, mini golf, restaurants – Original plans for 3-story, 30 acre facility est to cost $100M+, 2 yrs to build COMPANY OVERVIEW: Dude Perfect • Digital-native comedy and sports media brand • Faith-based mission: “We’re about giving back, spreading joy and glorifying Jesus Christ”  • Other YouTube franchises: “Stereotypes,” “Overtime”, “Bucket List”  • Media brand also incl books, mobile games, board games and toys, and merch / retail / food and beverage partnerships • 25 current team members PERFORMANCE HIGHLIGHTS • 60M YouTube Followers, 17B views • Est 2024 revenue: $50M per DP • Est 2023 and 2022 revenue: $25M and $20M per WSJ  • Consumer product partnerships incl Nerf toy line, Columbia Sportswear • Partnered with A Parent Media co to launch a streaming service • ESPN “30 for 30” doc premiering at Dallas Int’l film festival • TV series on CMT in 2016, later aired on Nickelodeon • Alternate broadcasts for Amazon’s Thursday Night Football • 4 live nationwide tours as of 2023 ORIGIN STORY • Founded 2009 by 5 friends at Texas A&M • Cofounders = twins Coby Cotton and Cory Cotton, Tyler Toney, Cody Jones, Garrett Hilbert • Started as YT channel featuring trick shot videos INVESTOR OVERVIEW: Highmount Capital • Growth stage and middle mkt PE fund for tech, media, healthcare • Founded in 2023 by jason illian and David Hawkins • 4 team members on website + advisor • 3 team members have faith-based ties per bios • No other investments listed on website other than DP My takeaway... I really like and support the trend of increased investment into YouTubers and digital-native media brands. But as I wrote about in my 2024 State of Creator x Media capital markets reports (will link them below), investment must match market and opportunity size. To ensure good ROI, and to set good precedent for future investment into our space. The DP bet is exciting, but could be overly optimistic based on our prelim math. My colleague Michael Booth's post breaks the math down (link below). More analysis to come in my Friday newsletter. —- I’m the founder of RockWater Industries. We do m&a and strategy advisory for media, agencies, and creator economy. My dm’s are open. #media #agency #creatoreconomy

91

11 Comments

Our latest jobs update 👇

9

1 Comment

Listen, I'm no prude or pearl clutcher but this is such an important topic. 1) You have team members that don't drink for a number of reasons and making booze your only form of team bonding or celebration leaves them out or forces them into uncomfortable positions. The opposite of the assumed goal. 2) Gaming as an industry in particular has rampant sexual harassment and abuse. Involvement of alcohol does not help. This isn't fear mongering - I know of, have seen, or experienced several incidents. 3) You don't have to go totally dry 100% of the time to be safe and inclusive, but you do need to factor in safety measures. It wouldn't hurt to stop making booze the primary activity as well. If you need a selfish reason, the liability alone isn't worth it.

15

4 Comments

Im stoked to be able to finally share that we raised a significant amount of funding from #ReubenBrothers at a very healthy valuation. https://lnkd.in/enibweUC https://lnkd.in/eBGwC3tx It’s not everyday one gets a chance to play a role in a fund raise, and I am very grateful for the experience. There was a lot to learn from folks like Keith Fernandez, MBA and Otto Eckstein. I enjoyed the research, the juggling of the data, and crafting the tech side of the growth strategy. The tech ended up playing a central role in the raise. #investment #fundraise #entrepreneurship #growth

55

18 Comments

PSA for CEOs: It’s your job to understand what potential acquirers want. Even if you’re not looking to sell yet. This idea was top of mind for me during GDC, where I met with several bigger studios. I took every opportunity to ask how they think about acquisitions: - What makes a potential acquisition interesting to them? - What thresholds do studios have to meet? - What metrics do they value most? This type of forward-looking market exploration is a shift for me. My primary focus for the last four years has been building FunCraft into a successful business. But my role needs to evolve. While FunCraft is growing and thriving independently, it’s still my responsibility to gauge what could make us an attractive acquisition down the road and understand how we build toward it. My advice to other CEOs: If an acquisition is something you can envision for your company down the road, don't plan for it in a silo. Talk extensively with potential acquirers and let their input inform your strategy early on.

43

4 Comments

It's been just over a week since we announced the industry changing strategic partnership between Immutable and Sequence. Watch our announcement trailer here https://lnkd.in/g5qtPn67 And dive into more of what we're doing together around the Immutable Embedded Passport powered by Sequence and the full Immutable Builder: - Account abstraction non-custodial wallets - Gasless transactions for all - Custom marketplace API and white label marketplace, the first on Immutable - Payments in fiat, credit and debit, and custom crypto - The world's fastest indexer and on-chain events with custom webhooks and more

30

2 Comments

Calling Investors: Invest in the original Xbox “Duke” controller… I am working with a new gaming peripherals company set to take the world by storm and they are looking for investors to join the team. Founded by Duke Schnepf, son of gaming visionary, and Xbox founder, Brett Schnepf, backed by multiple founding fathers of the Xbox, this company is pushing the boundaries of the gaming peripherals sector. Their journey began with Brett Schnepf, a luminary whose contributions to gaming history are etched in stone. As a founding member of the Xbox console team, Brett's design prowess shaped modern gaming, with iconic creations like the Sidewinder PC controller and the legendary Duke controller. Today, Duke Schnepf carries forth his father's legacy. Upside and a half! In late 2024, a major streaming platform will release a series chronicling the founding of a pioneering gaming console (can you guess which one) and the launch of Duke's ground-breaking products, offering an intimate look at the visionary minds behind this revolution. Looking for investments of $10K, $20K, $50K, $100K, $250, $500K, and $1M. Higher investments with equity shares are available for discussion. We foresee full returns and profits delivered within 1 year. If you're interested in being part of this exciting journey, please get in touch to set up a call ASAP. #Gaming #InvestmentOpportunity #Innovation #GamingPeripherals #TechInvestments #gamedev #investors #angelinvestors #gameinvestor #PEinvestment #AngelInvestment

9