On this week's MadTech Podcast, Jan Montwill, global media manager at H&M, joins ExchangeWire's Grace Dillon and Mat Broughton to discuss PlayStation's revamped Plus offering, Deliveroo upping their ad inventory, and the UK's cost of living tsar calling on businesses to use their marketing budgets on cutting spend.

PlayStation launch refreshed PS Plus subscription to compete with Xbox’s Game Pass

Will gamers buy into PS Plus Premium amidst record inflation and subscription fatigue?

PlayStation have relaunched their PS Plus subscription service. The revamped offering, which combines with and takes over PlayStation Now, has three tiers ranging in price from £6.99 (“Essential”) to £13.49 (“Premium”) a month.

The launch marks PlayStation-owner Sony’s ambition to compete with rival Xbox’s Game Pass subscription offering, which has seen great success since launching in 2017. However, some wonder whether, at £3.50 more a month than Game Pass Ultimate, gaming fans will take to PS Plus Premium as enthusiastically, especially during a cost of living crisis.

Deliveroo increases advertising to supplement revenue

Could food delivery services be a new frontier for retail media?

Deliveroo have launched the Deliveroo Media and Ecommerce platform to increase their ad inventory offering to advertisers. The platform, which is set to roll out in the UK this month, will enable the food delivery service to sell more ads on their website and app, and bring ads to their order-tracker page for the first time.

The offering, which will open Deliveroo’s domains to brands outside of the company’s partner stores and restaurants, is a bid to improve profitability after shares sank by over 56% this year (although shares have risen 1.22% since the announcement). Fellow delivery services Jokr and Delivery Hero have already expanded their ad operations to increase their revenue (although Jokr have pulled out of the US to focus on LatAm).

UK government launch ad campaign appealing to businesses to cut marketing spend

Does this campaign give the impression that marketing is considered less important to businesses’ success?

The UK government are launching a campaign encouraging companies to reallocate their marketing budget in order to keep product prices down. The as-yet unnamed initiative, which will be funded by taxpayers’ money, will promote any deals and support offered by participating businesses to alleviate the effects of the cost of living crisis.

David Buttress, the recently appointed cost of living tsar who is spearheading the scheme, called on brands to “refocus” marketing spend in order to stop prices from soaring. No additional financial support will be provided to do this, a government insider told the BBC. Responding to news of the campaign, the Federation of Small Businesses described it as “a slap in the face” for SMEs, saying that it’s unrealistic to ask small firms “to soak up additional costs”.