Good morning. Netflix’s videogame strategy is taking shape as competition for consumers grows, Sarah E. Needleman and Joe Flint report.

The company this week said it hired Facebook executive Mike Verdu as vice president of game development. And its recent deals with creative talent including “Bridgerton’’ producer Shonda Rhimes include language regarding the creation of videogames based on content.

The immediate focus will be on making mobile games, in the vein of “Stranger Things 3: The Game,” a $4.99 title released in 2019. But Netflix is planning to let subscribers play these games in its app without paying more.

“They’ll probably lower their churn,” said Benchmark analyst Mike Hickey. “You can burn through a TV series in a day, but you can constantly engage with a game for months to years.”

Not everyone agrees. “Do you want to play ‘Bridgerton’ the game?” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, a longtime critic of Netflix. “They’re going to fail miserably.”

More Netflix: The company fired three senior marketing executives for complaining about their bosses on Slack. [THR] 

Digital advertising veteran Anthony Katsur has been named CEO of the IAB Tech Lab, the global group that promotes common standards and technology for digital advertising, Keach Hagey reports for CMO Today.

He arrives at a moment of flux for the digital advertising industry. Google recently delayed its plan to remove third-party cookies from its Chrome browser, a victory for the IAB Tech Lab, which was part of a chorus of industry voices calling for more time to prepare for the change.

Mr. Katsur said he intends to focus on priorities like setting standards for alternative forms of addressable digital advertising that satisfy consumer privacy, creating common frameworks and standards for the emerging connected-TV industry, improving security and fighting ad fraud.

He’ll also keep talking with Google—a tech lab board member. “It’s not like as an industry you get around Google,” Mr. Katsur said.

Candace Parker will be the first female player on the cover of an NBA 2K  videogame, appearing on a special edition of “NBA 2K22.” Luka Doncic is the cover athlete for the standard edition. [The Verge]

Amazon is offering a cut to marketers whose ads elsewhere around the web link back to its platform and generate sales. [Ad Age]

NBCUniversal’s Peacock streaming service secured $500 million in upfront commitments from ad buyers. [Campaign] ​​

Reebok is rolling out its “Jurassic Park” collection, created in a deal with Universal Brand Development, even though the next movie in the dinosaur franchise has been delayed until next year. [Adweek]

Publicis Groupe is buying CitrusAd, which helps retailers sell and target ads on their websites, for its Epsilon data division. [AdExchanger]

Canada could reopen its border to U.S. tourists next month if vaccinations continue at their current pace and Covid-19 cases remain low. [WSJ]