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Category: Commentary

Commentary; our thought leadership, newsletter notes and long form pieces.

Capital Flows

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

Ben Young
Ben Young
April 7, 2023

Squashed Workloads

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

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 31, 2023

Challenging Times

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

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 24, 2023

AI Cubed

Edition #395 LinkedIn launches collaborative stories (with AI prompts), FTC issues guidance on usage of AI terms and a new AI conference. Events are back, well, the ebbs and flows of events are back. Earlier this week, I was catching up with a friend, then we were off to some industry drinks, in parallel there was another set of drinks and another event. It felt very pre-covidy New York, where lots was happening and all at once. And that… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 10, 2023

Spot-tok?

Edition #394 Spotify to become TikTok? Branded content inevitable? Acquisitions and Substack hits 2m subs. It’s been a bit of a crazy week – so will keep this note short. I really enjoyed Turners chat on Spotify introducing a feed. Which is how TikTok got started, as Musicly first, then TikTok. So it kind of makes sense, but Spotify is already big, they did it to help get big. Nonetheless, it would introduce more advertising options… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
March 3, 2023

No ChatGPT

Edition #393 ChatGPT chat drowns out Super Bowl, Netflix branded content and bad digital ads. All this and more in this weeks note. Can you not send a newsletter this week and only talk about ChatGPT. Ok. But people are asking because they’re curious, and there’s new lingo and it is potentially exciting. And it is something new to talk about, to look forward, to re-imagine the future. After this sustained period of things are rough, the future… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 17, 2023

Austerity Measures

Edition #392 On austerity measures, the easing economy and Uber Ads. All this and more in this weeks note. You may recall my top trend of the year was getting back on the tools. This week Bloomberg reported that Meta is asking many managers to get back to making things or leave. Yet another sign of, getting back on the tools. Austerity is the way. https://giphy.com/gifs/disneyplus-star-wars-the-mandalorian-madalorian-Ld77zD3fF3Run8olIt It’s also where companies are focusing, how can we get… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 10, 2023

Sherman Act

Edition #391 On how liquor companies can’t own the outlets they are sold in – and what that means for Google. AI content and loads of stories this week. I’m on page 33 of the Department of Justice’s complaint against Google and its practices in the ad tech space. It is worth giving it a read, to see exactly what the complaints are and their rationale. It is also curious, to see how a narrative can be… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
February 3, 2023

Newsletter subs

Edition #390 A breakdown on how Substack is driving subscribers, fonts in content and DHL helps rescue big cats. If you want to get a new newsletter subscriber, the best way, is to get a mention in another newsletter. The same for a podcast. Why? Because the subscriber has already made the first decision, to subscribe to that newsletter, why not another? It’s also why every YouTube host asks you to ‘like and subscribe’, to feed the recommendation… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
January 27, 2023

YouTube Strategy

Edition #389 A Youtube masterclass on strategy, TikTok is cheaper and Robinhood to launch new media arm. This week YouTube announced free streaming channels. “A YouTube spokeswoman said the company is running a small experiment that lets a subset of viewers watch free, ad-supported channels and is using it to gauge viewer interest. “We’re always looking for new ways to provide viewers a central destination to more easily find, watch and share the content that matters most… Continue reading

Ben Young
Ben Young
January 20, 2023