Hyper-Casual Trend Digest #9
Hi all! Summer vacation is definitely the best part of the year, but it’s time to get back to work 🤪
Today, we’re sharing with you the new Trend Digest, fully packed with news and trends from the past two summer months. Get ready to catch up on everything you missed! 😉
HYPER NEWS 🗞
🔗 Roblox Partner Program – What does Roblox’s new ad network look like?
Roblox recently introduced the Roblox Partner Program, featuring immersive ads like static images conveying information or transporting users to separate experiences. These ads aim to blend seamlessly within the game world, avoiding pop-ups, but require careful management and data privacy due to the platform’s young audience.
🔗 Germany on the rise with 46% growth in games companies since 2020
Germany’s gaming industry is thriving, with a 15.5% YoY rise in game companies (now 908 total) and 46% growth since 2020. Development studios employ 11,992 people, contributing to 30,000+ industry jobs. Startups are driving this growth, reflecting effective government funding.
🔗 Google’s ads business under threat from EU Commission
EU’s European Commission accuses Google of anti-competitive practices in adtech services, considering forcing Google to sell part of its ad business. This move, if approved, could impact YouTube Adverts and Google Ad Manager. Google faces substantial fine and potential revenue loss.
🔗 TikTok becomes first app to surpass $1 billion consumer spend in single quarter
TikTok has become the first app to exceed $1 billion in consumer spending in a single quarter (Q1 2023), surpassing both Tencent’s Honor of Kings and YouTube. Unlike mobile games relying on subscriptions, TikTok’s revenue is driven by one-time purchases for gifting to streamers. Its expansion into mini-games and diverse activities, resembling China’s multi-functional apps, has fueled its rapid rise, challenging the dominance of mobile games in monetization models.
🔗 YouTube gets into games with new Playables product
YouTube is reportedly planning to expand into online gaming, with a product called Playables, allowing games to be played on its site via web browsers and mobile systems. The move comes as YouTube aims to further grow its platform, especially amid a slowdown in advertising spending. YouTube Gaming’s popularity is evidenced by its significant esports content viewership, which reached 1.2 billion in Q3 2022, primarily driven by mobile games.
🔗 Unity goes deeper into AI as it announces two new tools
Unity, the game creation engine, is adding two AI tools, Unity Muse and Unity Sentis, to accelerate real-time 3D application creation using natural inputs like text and images. Despite AI controversies, Unity remains optimistic about their use and plans to include third-party tools from companies like Atlas and Replica Studios on the Unity Asset Store.
And some fresh stats for you 👀 :
- Consumers Spent More than 2.5 Trillion Hours on Mobile in the First Half of 2023
- 37% of gamers in Asia are female, with mobile as their preferred platforms
- 48% of Gen Z-ers have at least four gaming apps downloaded
- After 15% slump due to the economic downturn, global app install ad spend is projected to rise 20% to $94.9B in 2025
HYPER TRENDS 📱
Time for movies and TV series
In the last digest we talked about the big projects of early summer, but for now, in general, all eyes are on “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” right now (hashtag#barbenheimer). People are sharing their opinions, posting photos/videos from the cinemas, and still observing the marketing campaigns of these projects.
Also, all episodes of “The Witcher” season 3 have been released with Henry Cavill’s final appearance in the role.
Trends on YouTube and TikTok
What popular trends can we highlight for early summer?
- Skibidi Toilet
- Barbie
- Grimace, Banana Cat
- Breaking glass objects on the stairs
You all already know about the Skibidi Toilet trend and projects with it. The guys at App Magic recently published an article about this trend, you can read the detailed information here.
Aaaand… Barbie’s everywhere. The marketing of the movie surprised everyone so much (and not only with the budget) that we can see pink color, brand font, dolls and some references in communications of many brands, celebrities, bloggers, etc. We’ve collected a few examples of how creators are using this theme: nobodysausage, 123gohouse, brentrivera, redrosecake_tubageckil and funny platform Bairbe.me (it suggests users to upload a photo of themselves in frontal view, choose their hair and skin color, enter their email, and generate Barbie or Ken-style selfies). Of course, we shouldn’t forget Oppenheimer, but certainly the first place in the promotion of the movie is still Barbie’s.
Also, in June, McDonald’s in America put Grimace, the purple creature from the fast-food giant’s commercials, on its menu. The berry milkshake from this combo has become the hero of its own trend on TikTok: bloggers drink it on camera, “lose” consciousness, or “gain” mystical powers straight from horror movies. As a result, the character quickly became viral and now we see him not only in videos but also in projects.
The story of the crying cat in the banana suit is not new at all, you can read the story here. Nevertheless, videos with this character were viral and now, just like with Grimace, we see the cat in various projects.
Various glasses, jars, bottles of liquids and Orbeez totally unexpectedly got viral on TikTok. The account received multi million views in a matter of days, for example, this video got more than 296M views. In parallel with this, other accounts began to appear, each creator tried to add something unique, and now we already see various projects on this trend.
New TikTok effects
Cool game effects keep going viral, we’ve collected the most interesting examples, try them 🙂
Before + after masks from different movies and cartoons were popular on TikTok: The Simpsons, Studio Ghibli Style, Spider-Man, etc.
edwinl.malaversol | lonelyy.pluto | zewaru
CapCut has had some viral templates again lately, here are two examples of them: Bill Hader and Jennifer Lawrence. And unexpectedly, this mask — Striking Face — has become popular in various countries. Even celebrities used it.
burtvanderhoof | skyrocketsocialmedia | baileyspinn
And the effects in mini-game format: Screw Thread, Additional Drawing and Addicting Game.
buddy3dmad | anna.sereluca | caitlyn.mortimer
YouTube
The Grimace, Skibidi Toilet and Banana Cat selection:
catlando | LankyBox | DaFuqBoom
Trend-based projects
Over the past few months we’ve seen a lot of different and interesting projects: food-themed, the big trends we described in the article earlier, mini games with cups and tic-tac-toe, and more.
Grima Monster Run → Trend | Bottle On Stairs: Rolling ASMR → Trend | Barbenheimer → Trend
Banana Cat Jump → Trend | Skibydy Runner: Toilet Battle → Trend | Paper Salon → Trend
Fruit Hospital: ASMR Games → Trend | DIY Cakes → Trend | Splash Pig ASMR → Trend
FOOD FOR THOUGHT 🤔
You’ve probably already seen the news about the strikes of actors and screenwriters. So far, many premieres have been postponed, and shooting has been suspended. Now we are waiting for more and more news about changes to premiere schedules, and there is a lot of uncertainty about how it will affect the amount of trends on social media. What do you think? Could we see a situation of a lack of interesting trends this year, or, on the contrary, will the market be purified from fake trends imposed by movie marketers?
