Brief:
- AT&T's WarnerMedia is building a facility in New York City to support the development of new consumer products, services and experiences that work with high-speed 5G mobile networks. The WarnerMedia Innovation Lab is collaborating with the company's Ad Sales unit and Xandr, AT&T's advertising and analytics arm, to create the next generation of mobile ad experiences, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer.
- WarnerMedia is building the 20,000-square-foot hub in New York's Chelsea neighborhood with flexible event spaces, dedicated research and development environments and an open, collaborative workspace.
- AT&T and WarnerMedia have developed several venues to showcase media and technology, including the Shape Studio later this month in Los Angeles, The Lounge by AT&T in Seattle and WarnerMedia's Atlanta studios, per its announcement.
Insight:
AT&T's $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner, which overcame antitrust objections in February, is starting to come to fruition as the telecom and media giants collaborate on the next generation of mobile media development. The WarnerMedia Innovation Lab, which the company first announced in January, is the latest manifestation of their efforts to create media experiences that harness the high-speed power of 5G connectivity and let consumers interact with the latest technology in person.
Not only does 5G enable quicker downloads of video content, it also supports bandwidth-intensive multimedia experiences like augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR). AT&T is among the companies that are building out their 5G networks in the U.S., which will help to underpin development of smart factories, drone networks, driverless vehicles and Internet of Things (IoT) service on a massive scale. Handset makers like Google, Nokia, Huawei, LG and Motorola also have 5G phones in various stages of development, while Apple is forecast to release a 5G iPhone next year.
AT&T last year announced that it would begin testing 5G service in Atlanta, Dallas, Indianapolis, Oklahoma City, Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, and Waco, Texas. Earlier this year, AT&T said WarnerMedia was among the companies to participate in its 5G innovation program to bring together app developers, content creators, device makers and network vendors. Cisco, Ericsson, Infosys, Intel, Magic Leap, Microsoft, Nokia and Samsung also were among the companies to participate in the 5G incubator. AT&T has invested more than $130 billion in the U.S., including capital investments and acquisitions of spectrum and wireless operations, from 2014 to 2018.
