In this episode of The MadTech Podcast, George Odysseos, CCO at Planet Sport, joins ExchangeWire's Anne-Marie Sheedy and Mat Broughton to discuss the biggest news in the media, marketing, and commerce industries. On today's episode, X's exclusive deal with WWE, Google rebranding its AI chatbot, and UK streaming subscriptions declining in Q4 2023.

X announces exclusive content deal with WWE

X has announced an exclusive content deal with WWE. From April, their partnership will see the launch of WWE Speed, a new weekly video series which will showcase timed WWE matches, exclusive to the platform.

How is X’s move towards video content playing out so far, and how will the rollout of exclusive sports content bolster its offering? Will this move bring advertisers back to X?

Google rebrands its AI chatbot as Gemini to take on ChatGPT

Google is bringing its ChatGPT-style chatbot Bard and some other key AI features under the banner of Gemini. A new, more powerful version of the chatbot, Gemini Advanced, is subscription-only.

Is this an admission that Google has fallen behind the likes of Microsoft/OpenAI in the AI race?

UK household streaming subs dip despite global surge

The number of UK households with a subscription video-on-demand service decreased by half a million quarter on quarter, according to Barb’s latest data. Barb’s Establishment Survey showed 18.8m UK homes, or 65% of the population, had access to an SVOD service in Q4 2023, compared with 19.3m, or 67%, in Q3. 

What are the potential reasons for this decrease in the UK compared to other global markets?