Ben Young
Ben Young
February 19, 2021

One big thing

At the Goldman Sachs Technology and Investor conference, Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey suggested they were exploring tipping tweeters. Thus providing a financial incentive to those who create the best content. Now, what does that sound like? Kind of like SnapChat’s Spotlight or TikTok’s Creator fund.

If content creators are able to wrangle the cosmos to entertain, educate and draw attention they’ll be rewarded for it. Creating alignment between the platform and the creator.

Content is becoming the transactional unit. I send you a gif, you send me a gif. If others like it, we get paid. And that’s pretty neat.

If B2B influencing is your vibe, LinkedIn just launched their Creator program too. ?

Notable stories this week

  • Unilever launches branded content site linking science and wellness.
  • Twitter may explore tipping fellow tweeters.
  • LinkedIn is the latest tech giant to launch a creator program.
  • How TheSoul publishing grew revenue via platforms with viral social media life hacks.
  • Australia says content laws already working after Nine-Google deal reports. Related, Seven West content deal with Google Showcase could reach $39m-$69m AUD annually and Google strikes a deal with News Corp.
  • ^ Related, Facebook stops users from sharing news links in Australia.
  • LightShed partners launches media investment fund. This is good for the space, smart analysts taking early bets.
  • ByteDance reportedly calls off Oracle, Walmart deal and TikTokers are now eligible to join Hollywood’s biggest union.
  • The profound, unintended consequences of Apple’s App Tracking Transparency changes is content fortresses.
  • The podcast wars will come down to ad-tech, not exclusive content.

Deals/M&A

  • Hedge fund Alden agrees to buy Tribune.
  • Ad-tech mavens back ‘founder-friendly’ investment syndicate.

Campaign of the week

  • Accenture partners with CNBC to highlight some of the latest trends impacting businesses.

Paid content by Accenture on CNBC

Smartest commentary

  • “A brand has fans before it has customers. A brand that prioritizes organic, community-driven growth versus rapid customer acquisition develops a lasting social influence.”Ana Andjelic

Datapoints of note

See all our Covid-19 data here.

  • Spotify has tripled the number of podcasts in the past year to 2.2m.

That’s it for this week.

Thanks,

Ben


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