One big thing What happens when Google doesn’t need you anymore? It’s still a ways away but it kind of is the trajectory. The same way Uber was considering a world without drivers. Google is moving towards a world without click out search results. When you consider things like GPT3, an AI that can create copy to fulfill a result, having been trained off data. A search results page that fully caters to your needs is… Continue reading
One big thing With GameStop this week, we saw what can happen when collective action happens, the emergence of a subculture (WallStreetBets) clashing with another (traditional Wall Street). When I (and others) made the call of the roaring twenties at the start of last year, no one could have imagined that this would be the kind of thing that it could lead to. But what does this have to do with content… Continue reading
One big thing This week Axios shared the Axios Bill of Rights, their promise to readers. Check it out. I’m always a fan of a mission statement, or an outline of principles, the act of sharing it, itself tells something about the publication. With theirs, the very first one is: Every item will be written or produced by a real person with a real identity. There will be NO AI-written stories. NO bots. NO… Continue reading
Happy New Year! Our first note of 2021. We’ve decided to not cover the suspension, Parler and related this week. We may in the future but felt like it clouded important stories, which would otherwise be overlooked. Of note is the M&A/deal activity since the last edit. One big thing I’ve said whether the Olympics go ahead or not may be the canary in the coal mine for the marketing and media industry this year. If they go ahead, it… Continue reading
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. . . It’s not that we signed an open letter, or that Twitter & Google showed support, or the multitude of brands… Continue reading
We hear a lot about bot fraud and fake traffic. There are astounding numbers and when the money is being paid for a brand budget but being lost to these bad actors, you can be sure there’s no significant business growth coming from it. It is essential to take this beyond the headlines, from abstraction and dive into what is happening here. Following is a vivid example of a bot campaign in action, with one of our clients. All names… Continue reading
Inspired by a tweet from Hunter Walk, this week at the very bottom we’ve added a few newsletters we dig. Please do check them out and give them a try. One big thing I didn’t really comment on the revenue sharing piece a few weeks back. Wanted to mull on it for a bit as I felt too much nuance was left out of the conversation. To recap, PWC after completing a two-year study found;… Continue reading
A couple of friends need a hand, How can I help, a social cause is looking for a volunteer to help with SEO. Another colleague is looking for a paid content role for a sports brand. Ping me for details. One big thing Spotify pulls the Howard Stern play of podcasts signing Joe Rogan. The move added $1b to their market cap, in what is a multi-year deal worth over $100m. Continue reading
One big thing Even PlayStation is going direct to consumer with the launch of Playstation studios, ahead of the PS5 launch. “Sony has developed a new umbrella brand to unite its first-party PlayStation titles. The PlayStation Studios brand will go live in PlayStation 4 and 5 games later this year, and will only be featured on games developed and managed by Sony Interactive Entertainment's Worldwide Studios organization.” It’s not that they will now produce games… Continue reading
One big thing As we transition to the new normal, those brands that are spending, are starting to invest in marketing assets. Assets like app installs, newsletter subscribers, upper-funnel audience, training, webinar attendance. “The roughly $40 billion app-install market was “likely the most material contributor this quarter” to social media ad spend, according to Morgan Stanley analysts.” And why not, with attention up and cost per clicks down, it's a perfect storm. By my calculations,… Continue reading
