S T U D I O 1 2 : NBCUniversal's Unprecedented Move

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First Things First

March 17, 2020

By Jess Zafarris

Coronavirus Updates: How Coronavirus Is Impacting Brands and Agencies

Keep up with the latest using our coronavirus tracker, which includes event cancellations and other impacts of COVID-19 on the advertising and marketing world. To discuss remote work, business impacts and other professional matters related to COVID-19, join our dedicated LinkedIn forum.

Snapchat Might Be Best Positioned for the Coronavirus Outbreak

In a time of crisis, it turns out that Snapchat has emerged as possibly the most reliable social media platform. First of all, the platform's disappearing messages make it optimized for private conversations, and there's no central news feed of content generated by users outside of one's personal network, which means that it doesn't have the same misinformation problems that other platforms do.

NBCUniversal Will Make Its Theatrical Releases Available to Rent During Pandemic

Following Disney+'s lead with its early release of Frozen 2, NBCUniversal's new movie releases including The Invisible Man, The Hunt, Emma and the upcoming Trolls World Tour will be available to rent at home as soon as Friday. The move is an extraordinary break from normal theatrical window periods that come as the entertainment and film industries brace for the long-lasting effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

Plus, Americans are projected to watch as much as 60% more television and movies at home now that increasingly strict coronavirus-related lockdowns and shutdowns are in place in cities around the country and more people are working from home, according to an analysis from Nielsen.

DTC Leads the Charge of Retailers Closing Shops to Slow Spread of Coronavirus

Since the middle of last week, retailers have been announcing temporary closures of their brick-and-mortar locations, with direct-to-consumer brands leading the movement to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Buzzy, millennial-favorite beauty brand Glossier was one of the first brands to step up, shuttering its four permanent stores on March 13 for "at least two weeks."

Plus, casinos have become the latest tourism-dependent businesses to take unprecedented steps to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. Of the about 40 hotels and resorts along the Las Vegas Strip, at least 15 will close their doors.

AMC Networks Touts 'Viewer First' Remote Strategy After Upfront Cancellation

After AMC Networks' upfront plans were completely upended by the spread of the coronavirus, the company revamped its strategy. In lieu of an event, the company is building a screening room for its upfront content, including clips and full episodes of some new shows. While most of its rivals are creating their own SVOD streaming services, AMC Networks is taking the opposite approach, and is in the process of partnering with four AVOD streamers to feature its original shows.

More Coronavirus News:

Suki Waterhouse and Argos Prove That, Yes, Some Furniture Is Stylish Enough to Wear

In "So Stylish Suki Can Wear It" for Argos, a British retailer that sells furniture and homewares, by The&Partnership agency in London, Suki Waterhouse sports outfits that, at first glance, look like haute couture. But take a closer look and see that her ensembles are crafted out of home furnishings.

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Agencies Share How They've Prepared for the Spread of COVID-19

"We are tightly integrated with IT on remote access and are familiar and comfortable with the demands of remote collaboration. This is the future and increasingly important to master across the board, particularly in moments of uncertainty such as now with the coronavirus. We have a leg up on developing many of these processes already as we've been investing in maximized productivity for those that need to work from home. We are a global team and gaining real time insights from our other offices working in markets where the situation is rapidly changing day to day. And we are using these insights to better prepare our team on the ground."

—Simon Hill, president, FutureBrand North America

"Goodway Group is a fully-remote company with employees working across three continents. From the beginning, we found ourselves in a pretty advantageous position as other companies were scrambling to figure out how to accommodate the influx of remote employees and what infrastructure or company culture changes were needed in order to facilitate that. We did have to make some changes to our culture in our Singapore market as all in-person meetings, which was their culture, were shifted to Zoom, but we were already set up to seamlessly transition and continue on with business as usual."

—Amanda Martin, vp of enterprise partnerships, Goodway Group