Social Media & Internet Culture: Letterboxd Marshals Casual Critics

Letterboxd is a social network for film lovers to rate, review and curate movies into lists. Backed by over 10 million active users, it’s building a film fandom content empire through satellite accounts on social media platforms from TikTok to LinkedIn, catering to communities of casual critics and fandom tastemakers – a key direction for entertainment engagement in our Look Ahead 2024.

Gaming: Starship Home Brings Cosmic Escapism to the Everyday

Meta has announced an upcoming exclusive game for Quest 3 virtual reality headsets called Starship Home, which will transform players’ abodes into a space-travelling horticulturalist’s research lab. The customisable virtual playscape embeds a canny mix of cosy and adventurous gameplay into players’ daily lives.

Music & Sound: Rewatch Podcasts Rekindle Y2K Kids’ Shows for Gen Z

The stars of beloved 2000s kids’ TV programmes are climbing up the podcasting charts with shows dedicated to nostalgic rewatches of their old series. Coinciding with Quiet On Set, an incisive Discovery+ documentary looking back on the heavy toll of child-star fame, these podcasts recontextualise old favourites for a new generation of fans who like to enhance even comfort content with a critical lens. 

Publishing & Broadcasting: The New York Times’ Spell-Binding Games

Games made by The New York Times (NYT) were played over eight billion times in 2023 (Axios, 2024). From the venerated crossword to more recent digital additions like Spelling Bee, Connections and Wordle, people are now spending more time playing the NYT’s logic and language puzzles than on any of its three other online apps (News, Cooking, and The Athletic).

One to Watch: Roblox Introduces its Answer to TikTok

Roblox, the social gaming platform where users of all skill levels design and build their own games, has introduced Clip It, a TikTok-like in-game social video tool. Created by American team Neura Studios, it lets Roblox’s 71 million daily active players take their off-Roblox social media habits into the many game worlds their avatars visit.