issue 115
Hello! Just a heads up, this is probably my longest issue to date. My preamble alone will take ~4 mins to read. Here it goes:
When I was younger, I routinely cycled through YouTube-first media companies for content, also known as multi-channel networks (MCNs). I still do, kinda. And early in my career, I prepared one too many research briefs on that same ecosystem. I’ll be a Machinima (RIP) fan-boy for life, and will rave about VEVO whenever I get the chance. It’s a creative collective. A coterie centralized and curated by shared taste and theme. It is the foundation of most every publisher and producer, built off the back of aggregated creatives. Programmed.
Exactly one year ago, an Instagram-first media company called Roam emerged with partnerships to my favorite adventure photographers (Jimmy Chin, Chris Burkard, Renan Ozturk) and $2.1m in backing from investors like WndrCo, Advancit, and Susa. Here is the Insta. I finally thought someone was going to capitalize on the chasm that GoPro and Red Bull failed to own in the not-so-niche actions sports space that highlights human potential and achievement. A sort of NatGeo crossed with Surfer’s Journal. Yes please.
Sadly, Roam hasn’t quite seen widespread success and critical acclaim (yet). I fail to understand why, but I’ve been thinking about it a lot. They have a stacked lineup. The A-Team. Oscar winners! A coalition of the best of the best when it comes to travel and adventure filmmakers and photographers who have captured some of the most intense moments across surfing, snowboarding, climbing, biking, etc. At first I thought that they failed to fully embrace omni-channel as their YouTube is lackluster. In today’s age every media company needs to be totally cross-platform, even if the content is subtly duplicative. Example, a photo (or a short [automated] clip) better promote a video edit, just as a a tweet or LinkedIn post promotes a blog or a newsletter, a trailer promotes a film - and there’s a teaser for that trailer. At the end of it, these all promote the person. The individual. The product.
Then it hit me. This socialist-style approach to content distribution just might not work now. Those who capture and create these moments have their own brand to build. Why push and share your audience elsewhere when you can own it yourself. Individualism over socialism. The clout transfer model, more aptly: conversion rates, should impact your income rather than a media company’s follower count, even if you’re an equity participant. How would you like your upside: owned or pooled.
Aside from the general “collapse” of the MCN market, many floundered because the most successful personalities would just bail to start their own channel. Fun fact, now just 28% of the top YouTube channels by subscriber count are actually YouTubers, the rest are celebrity musicians, talk show hosts, actors etc. Peep this infographic. Instagram never needed MCNs - though you could make a case for Overtime. When it comes to attention: videos > photos. Whatever the case may be, my eyes are still glued on Roam.
Quick sidebar on Apex Legends, the free-to-play video game that did ~$100m its first month of launch. They eventize updates of their maps and in-game rewards in seasons with the release of short films based on a certain character. They events are usually two weeks long, here is their latest announcement and the accompanying short film. Solid stuff. They also involve aspects of the community, like hosting a fan art challenge where the artwork makes its way into films and merch (EA). The crowds seem very pleased, which is next to impossible because gamers are a fickle bunch. Here is a quick rundown of all this from CriticalHit. EA acquired the developer behind Apex, Respawn, for ~$400m in 2017. A big thank you to Daniel Angeles for clueing me into this type of transmedia and evergreen content. Brilliant.
So the Forbes list also came out (as did a bunch of other subjective lists). I played A$AP’s Tony Tone when I flipped through it. Here is the music video. It’s rad - delicate ears be warned. Speaking of A$AP and lists, he was my artist of the decade on Spotify Wrapped (which isn’t saying much seeing as how I’ve been on Spotify for only two years - I had my Pandora dialed). I really do love Spotify’s yearend roundup. Here is mine (it’s a tweet). It’s invigorating because 1) this is a rare case where content providers actually publish their user data with complimentary visualizations and 2) people actively share it almost as a status or taste symbol. More-so, they anticipate it. It’s ritualized. If you didn’t share it, then I guess you must live in shame. It’s probably the truest, unfiltered reflection of the individual. The anti-thesis of vainglorious. It’s like asking a friend to show you their Screen Time. Raw. Data.
Next week I’ll cover some of the differences between Substack and Mailchimp. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, the archive of this newsletter is up on Medium. Check out my landing page here. Share it, or don’t, though it’d be nice if you did. If you’re a Medium member, I dare you to read the articles that are in the partner program so that I can see some pennies. I did get stiff-armed by them (yet again) as they only allow 3 posts per day - thankfully they lifted my limit.
Nothing like reading through posts from two+ years ago to feel like a complete buffoon. Cringe factor was off the charts. It was also my 10 year high school reunion the other week back home. I was stuck here in NYC. A few friends sent me my yearbook photo. Again, cringe. Everything’s changed, and so has nothing. Once a kook, always a kook.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading (this time especially). See you next week.
Tech
Rive, real-time animation for games and apps, raised $4m. Med
Oto, speech to text voice tech and intonations, raised $5.3m. OtoSite
Wildlife Studio, mobile game studio behind Zooba, raised $60m. VB
FB on building AI that can master complex co-op games. FBblog
Duolingo, language learning, raised $30m at $1.5b val. VB
Snapchat cameos allow users to insert face into gifs and the like. TC
Overtime, digital sports startup, looks to raise $40m. WSJ
Adobe acquires Oculus’ Medium, AR/3D authoring tool. Adobe
Advanced Navigation, sensor tech for drones, subs and more, raised $13m. TRR
Dolls Kill, youth merch and doll brand, raised $40m. TC
Delhpia aims to help users monetize their own data, raised $14m (cool). TC
Twitter unveiled new conversation insights tools for pubs. Tblog
Instagram to collect age data for youth safety against ads (okayyy). Reuters
Wisk is a JV btwn Boeing and Kitty Hawk, the Larry Page backed chopper car. Wisk
Twitter looks to raise $600m in a senior unsecured note. Cision
Tencent announces $5m prize pool for Pubg ecosystem. ESO
Accel Robotics, cashierless stores with computer vision, raised $30m. VB
Otis, fractal ownership of art and things, allegedly raised $11m. Otis
FB mods suing the company for trauma. Vice
Reddit has 430m MAUs. TC
Playbyte is a new BK based game building app. PB
Frontdoor acq Stream, computer vision and AR for service professionals. BW
Relay Networks, customer engagement and retention, raised $30m. PEhub
MeetCute is a new romcom newsletter + pod from former USV analysts. MC
Flow, cross border payments for e-comm, raised $37m. TC
FBI warns Russia’s FaceApp could be accessed by the state (no duh). WSJ
FB makes chatbot for employees. NYT
FB working toward AR TV with the Portal. NRN
Ovitz backs Human Capital, also incubating engineer agency. WSJ
FB also working on podcast and travel apps. NYT
Apple and Google best apps/games of 2019. TC
Amazon announce AI music making tool. RA
Media
Nintendo to sell Switch consoles in China w/ Tencent. WSJ
Spotify’s top artists roundup of 2019, and the last decade. Spot
Epic on the lookout for acquisitions with all its Fortnite cash. FT
IG recruits athletes to sell merch on its platform. WSJ
Wasserman partners with Giant Spoon to make athletes bigger influencers. Axios
NBA viewership is down because it’s not avail on broadcast like NFL. Axios
Spotify unveils new tool that walk thin line of pay-for-play. RS
TV ad sales see steepest drop since recession. Bberg
Tencent backed iDreamSky in talks to buy game studio, Leyou. Bberg
YouTube eases restrictions on violence in video games. Var
Spotify’s most popular tracks and artists. CNN
David Tepper near deal w/ MLS for Charlotte team. Bberg
Pods will be able to win Pulitzers in 2020. NL
PE could expand NHL (hockey) in the near future. Fox
Plex launches its free movie and tv streaming service (anotha one). Engad
Jay Z back on Spotify (yes!). CNN
Podcorn, connects brands w/ podcasters, officially launched. TC
Forte, new economies for games players, joined blockchain association. Med
Steve Cohen to buy majority of the Mets. NYT
CVC in talks to fund football (soccer) tournies w/ Fifa and Real Madrid. FT
Mixcloud was hacked, user data for sale on dark web. ZDNET
Viacom and CBS are married again. CNN
Kuaishou, short form video platform, raised $2b from Tencent ahead of IPO. DSA
CBInsights partners with DeepTech to expand in China. Cision
Gema, music distrib, acquired digital distrib, Zebraulation. Bboard
Nippon launched Hunter v Hunter game w/ Tencent, based on popular anime. MC
UK’s broadband network a factor for Amzn Premier League games. Bberg
IAC’s Expedia restructures senior leadership. WSJ
Sony strikes deal for Beatles memorabilia. WSJ
Ai Foundation launches deepfake Deepak Chopra. CNBC
5G doesn’t pose new cell radiation threats per FCC. WSJ
WarnerMedia to double Asian content spend. Var
Entertainment
Sundance lineup (!!). Sun
Disney $10b global box office this year (wow). Var
Golden Globe noms. IW
Netflix viewing data for Irishman, Bird Box, Camino (views vs watch-thrus). Var
MRC secures all media rights (less publishing) to Eloise, children’s IP. Dead
Universal, Blum, and Charles Randolph working on WeWork drama film. THR
McKay’s Lakeshow series gets order from HBO. Dead
Gkids makes Studio Ghibli titles avail on TVOD prior to HBO Max deal. THR
Sky to develop UK film/tv physical studio with backing from Comcast. Dead
Planet of the Apes movie in the works w/ Wes Ball directing. Dead
Apple TV+ nearing to acquire Billie Eillish doc. Var
HBO orders limited series about Watergate. Dead
Netflix to invest $400m on Indian content next few years. THR
Quinto’s Before the Door pacts w/ AMC for scripted and Spoke for unscripted. Dead
Baby Yoda merch won’t be avail until Feb. Bberg
Agencies set for int’l expansion amidst WGA standoff. Dead
Dr Disrespect, streamer, inks first look with Skybound. THR
Gotham Award winners. IW
LA Film Critic winners. IW
WGA tv noms. Var
National Board of Review winners. Dead
Collaborative
James Bond - No Time to Die trailer (!!). YT
Lessons from the screenplay (video games - must watch). YT
YouTube Rewind 2019 video (lots of data too). YT
Alien research could get its first grad program, Penn State. SA
India is looking to replicate China more than US for tech expansion. WSJ
How neural networks have become a big biz. ArsT
Scientists use loudspeakers to make dead coral reefs sound healthy, bring life. Washpo
Chinese influencers go live. WSJ
Wired’s guide to influencers. Wired
Connie Chan on the video first future of e-comm. a16z
Letter from Larry and Sergey and their transitions in Alphabet. Goog
Putin signs law demanding Russian apps be put on their manufacturers. Reuters
China is using DNA to attempt to map faces (?!). NYT
Cards Against Humanity compete against AI for their jobs. Verge
Alex Heath on Magic Leap (yikes). Info
Surveillance cameras w/ facial recog to grow 30% y/y. WSJ
A look at Uneeq, chatbots into digital humans. Nana
The crowd and chaos at the top of Everest (get that Insta!). GQ
Paul Graham on lessons and learning. PG
Ev Williams is blogging again. Med
Science vs cinema - Star Wars (so geeky, love it.). YT
Story archetypes in digital. Drum
Sarah Tavel on the hype cycle of features. Med
The rise of the famous Amish on TikTok. Cut
Black Widow trailer (that soundtrack..). YT
How innovation spreads across America, by job title. Brookings
Forbes 30 under 30 list. Forbes
Free Guy trailer (some AR in here). YT
Profile on Michael B Jordan. Esquire
Article on Stanford’s Design Thinking school. CalSun
Ditching Google for Duck Duck Go. Wired
Scam calls are killing the phone call. Vice
Interactive piece on the future of social media. NYT
Top viewed pages on Wiki, allegedly (mostly movies). Tools
Science community backlash on China’s racist DNA tests. NYT
Steward Butterfield writes about Slack shared channels. Slack
Best photos of 2019. NatGeo
Mulan trailer. YT
Dark side of electronic waste recycling. Verge
Vice series on surveillance. Vice
DaBaby’s Bop music video, wild. YT
Activists risk prison to make VR films of animal farms. Wired
Two Sigma has a video game comp (from 2017). Naut
NASA Mars rover simulation chamber. YT
Bloomberg’s 50 list. Bberg
Review of spreadsheet user interfaces. BenVogt
Best video games of 2019 Vulture
Star Wars profile in the age of consumer-first. WSJ
Seth Porges on site specific VR art installations. Forbes
Koalas aren’t actually going extinct from Aus fires. Natgeo
Inside Twitch’s wild talk show (yikes!). Kotak