What’s hot like Hansel on YouTube?

• Popular media as a muse: inspired by big media events, like the Barbie movie (aka newsjack mass culture moments)
• The Rise of the Rizz: virality via participation in a viral trend (aka newsjacking viral youth movements)
• Skibidi Toilet: short-form narrative content that leaves open space for the viewer to fill the blanks (basically video as poetry)
• Permission to flex: personality types (or horoscopes) as vehicle for self-sharing without feeling self-promotional
• Chess: ♟️ (or, put a new twist on something old)

YouTube Highlights Latest Shorts Trends to Help Inform Your Content Approach

What are the kids doing these days?

If they’re between the ages of 6-12, they might be listening to podcasts.

Twenty-nine percent of U.S. Kids Ages 6-12 Listen to Podcasts Monthly

A great medium for screen-wary parents.

I’ve been waiting for this since the #BanTikTok fervor.

The Record: Lawsuit: ByteDance’s CapCut app secretly reaps massive amounts of user data

The ByteDance-owned CapCut video editing app gathers significant amounts of private data, including facial scans, from its 200 million active users, generating huge profits and potentially allowing the Chinese government to access that data, according to a proposed class action lawsuit filed in an Illinois federal court.

It’s not about the name of the app, it’s about who has access to the database. (Thus, Apple vs. UK over iMessage & FaceTime.)

The Drum: Nearly 90% of consumers no longer trust influencers

Is this why Pinterest basically avoided (~9:43) the word “creator” in its last investor call? (A stark turn from previous calls for the inspiration platform.)

Or maybe it finally realized it’s social bookmarking, not media.

More ads in more places.

Walmart: more self-checkout screen and in-store radio spots

Uber: not really new placements (though video is still new-ish and others might be coming), but more advertisers using the platform

Giphy?: new ad platform rolling out later this year

Sometimes it’s a good reminder that just because if works somewhere else, doesn’t mean it will work here, for you.

But he may be missing a major point: The US isn’t China and WeChat’s success may not be replicable.

Business Insider: If Elon Musk understood anything about China, he’d know his attempt to make X a super app like WeChat is doomed to fail

As the cookie gods severed their ties to the marketing world, watching as the idols made in their image crumbled, they decreed: “and ye, soon unto everything will be an ad platform”

According to [Intuit] advertisers can potentially reach over six million QuickBooks Online customers in the US through the network

The network is touting the depth of Intuit’s data which it says allows it to identify business insights sooner than insights currently available from commercial business databases.

MediaPost: Intuit Launches B2B Ad Network Targeting Small Business Owners

Sometimes telling people not to do what you want them to do is the right move.

Unless they’re already loyal customers / users, then it’s more likely to backfire.

Nudge Podcast: Feel free to ignore this episode

Missed this in Netflix is lowering ad costs bit:

Netflix has had preliminary discussions to sell ads through other partners, in addition to Microsoft. Netflix is reworking its pact with Microsoft to reduce the revenue guarantee.

I still think an in-house solution is their best option, at least long-term.

WSJ: Netflix Reworks Microsoft Pact, Lowers Ad Prices in Bid for Growth

Maybe the animal spirits won’t win out this time.

“To me the most important signal out of [Thursday’s data] is that households continue to consume,” Eric Winograd, senior economist at AllianceBernstein, told the Financial Times. “And I don’t think we should expect the consumer to weaken until the labor market does.”

The Daily Upside: Recession? What Recession?

Netflix is courting advertisers with discounted rates:
Some advertisers are now being offered placements of $39 to $45 per 1,000 viewers, the WSJ reported, compared to a previous rate of around $45 to $55.

The Daily Upside: Recession? What Recession?

Turns out the Bud Light boycott was good for one thing: marketing lessons.

• Know your customer
• Don't become a commodity (by definition they are easily replaced)
• Stay true to your values

Of course, brands should be allowed to change their values, but it has to be done carefully.

Great bits on why need is better than new, how catchphrases = cult status, defaulting to value, embracing the cringe, why you shouldn't fail short, being wrong is better than boring, and why you should follow your conviction.

And a great reminder for marketers:

We're not solving world hunger. We are trying to help more humans believe in themselves in order to do something in business that could lead to financial freedom for them.

Narratives matter. And brands are narratives.