Everyone loves a benchmark.

A study found…

The average month-on-month growth rate for podcasts is 1.62%

But

podcasts with less than 1,000 monthly downloads are nearly 8% more likely to double their listenership in the span of a year compared to mid-size shows with between 1,000 and 10,000 monthly downloads. Podcasts with over 10,000 monthly downloads are also the most likely to reduce their listenership, as it becomes harder to keep listeners interested.

Know what your goals are. And remember that metrics don’t always perfectly map to them.

And Snap makes 3

Amazon Reaches Deal to Run Shopping Ads on Snap

The end of the free money train means it’s more efficient for these social platforms to partner up when it comes to their shopping ambitions, rather than trying to build their own.

TikTok Shop enters its knockoff phase.

TikTok creators have been pitching apparent knockoffs of products from Apple, Lululemon, and Crocs.

leaning on creators to sell products comes with two big challenges: they’re not always honest and don’t always understand what they’re selling.

This has been my biggest warning to clients for months. Signing up for TikTok Shop feels like signing up to have your product(s) knocked off at some point, whether by others or TikTok directly.

I get it, you wish your e-commerce business were selling the way it did in 2020, when U.S. e-commerce revenue surged 28%, and in 2021, when it surged 22%. But those days are gone, even though they left their mark.

It’s important for marketers & analysts to understand trends & market happenings because businesses don’t operate in vacuums. Sometimes sales are down because everyone’s are.

Data comparisons for the past few years have been messy, and will likely stay that way for a bit. Try to figure out which changes are signs of shifting behaviors & which are on you.