Today, popular gaming streamer and YouTuber Ali “SypherPK” Hassan has announced the opening of a dedicated Fortnite Creative mapmaking division in Oni Studios, the content creation studio and consultancy he founded in January. The new venture aims to lower the barrier of entry for brands interested in the metaverse by bringing together the production and distribution sides of this nascent marketing channel.

Oni Studios’ Fortnite mapmaking team is currently composed of three full-time employees, with plans to expand to 15 and recruit a wider network of contractors by the end of 2022. The new division has been in development for about a year. Until now, the company has largely acted as an incubator and consultancy for up-and-coming streamers and video creators, but brand deals have become an increasing significant element of the company’s business — Oni signs around 10 brand deals every month, according to Oni Studios CEO Daniela

Marketers know that digital marketing represents the future of their business. That’s why, according to the February 2022 edition of The CMO Surveythey’re happy to allocate 57% of their budgets to digital marketing activities and are planning to increase spending by another 16% in 2023.

However, the survey also found that this contribution has weakened over the past year. More than 30% of marketers who participated said that they are experiencing average-to-no returns on their investments, which could create funding difficulties in the future if they are not able to overcome this gap.

So, why are returns softening, and what can marketers do about it? Our research and experience has identified six reasons behind the digital marketing performance gap.

Companies haven’t developed a fully integrated digital marketing organization.

More than 60% of marketing leaders reported in the August 2021 edition of The CMO Survey that their companies were either