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Edition #407 Would you purposely slow down your customer experience? This weeks note on going 0 to 60 in 4.3 seconds, creator-led marketing and what skill is most in demand. I’m planning a holiday with family, and I do not mind, getting a good rental car. I love driving but live in the city with no car :(. So I’m perusing the options and find the Cupra Formentor, what a name! Formentor. It sounds formidable. And even… Continue reading
Edition #406 How our industry can’t help but appreciate how Apple does things, podcasts have been around 20 years! And Twitch pulls back on its new branded content guidelines. Spatial computing. How could I not have a newsletter this week and not mention spatial computing and Vision Pro. You just can’t. Well you can, but too late now. I did like, Facebook tried to land this space, with Meta and metaverse. And Apple comes along, and pulls it… Continue reading
Edition #404 On why some investors get a preference, Yeti & Vox and Substack spam. Back after a bit of a break. Last week Vice filed for bankruptcy. There’s been a bit of unpacking what happened. A lot of the reasons can be explained by bad capital allocation, but that’s a little too easy. Last year they did over $600m in revenue, so why has the music stopped now? It seems Vice are unable to make their… Continue reading
Edition #403 On beating TikTok, AI content, google helpful content changes and the uncanny valley. I liked Tim Hwangs framing on the TikTok situation, the aim should be to outcompete it. Yeah, if you don’t like it and have a better product, yes, bring it market, do a better job, lift the standard, engage folks more. And this is what Artifact is doing, it’s not just a Pocket or an Instapaper, it’s adding community and now… Continue reading
Edition #402 Spotify goes from strength to strength, brands want in Apple News & Time removes its paywall. You might wonder why I dive into the odd earnings report, I like to keep up to date, but it is where meaningful changes have to be shared with the market. Also analysts prod, and ask questions, ignoring the answers just seeing what they ask tells you something. During earnings week, they tend to dominate the news, so other stories… Continue reading
Edition #401 On how the modern media landscape supports writers like Grann, behind Ubers $500m ad business and more. I liked Noahs David Grann appreciation edition. For those of you not in the know, he is an author, that goes super deep into a topic, for years, and like a detective uncovers stories previously untold, and then brings them to life in a remarkable manner. His latest book, The Wager: A tale of Shipwreck,… Continue reading
Edition #400 We hit our 400th edition! Wow, thank you. A note from me and the regular stories, from Instagram to Weather channel and streaming/search data. I thought I’d share more on why I continue to justify the time to do it and some of the behind the scenes. This newsletter has grown and evolved so much over the years. Initially it was just a recap of notable stories in the native advertising space, as there was… Continue reading
Edition #399 We get the trailer for The Grand Train Tour, Lemon8, the end of content and Nativo + Cision news. I’ve been thinking about this, where capital flows and how when it changes, that has big impact. One is, the funding of companies that relied on app installs, or easy sales via Instagram. That funding is not really going into those companies any more. VC funding has plunged 50% in the last 12 months. But it… Continue reading
Edition #398 A grand train tour of Switzerland, squashed workloads, Substack lets you become an investor & BuzzFeed’s creator score. Always be growing, that is a foundational rule of the internet. If you’re not growing, someone else is, and taking your share. Sucks hey. That is the concern or nagging fear with AI. That others will get ahead, and get ahead a lot faster. Leaving you for dust. Loss aversion, or the fear of loss is greater… Continue reading
Edition #397 On the challenging market, new content studios, payment for AI to use content in its models and the latest from MacPac. I saw this tweet earlier in the week, MORGAN STANLEY: what happens when one or more of these five things are happening? MORGAN STANLEY: what happens when one or more of these five things are happening? 1) $SPX forward earnings declining 2) yield curve inverted3) Unemployment… Continue reading
