Rabbbits Weeekly: Words About Audio (Podcasts)
Or, why is every tech company (except Facebook) a podcast company now? Plus, other marketing stuff and things about the æconomy, algorithms, ads, audiences, analytics and attack vectors.
Today’s Above the Fold was going to be about audiences, but that piece kept growing, so expect a standalone on that soon. I’m also working on a larger social media piece, you can follow along on the blog (link in comments). Long story short, a quick hit today and some longer, standalone pieces soon(ish). Don’t miss out.
Why Is Every Platform a Podcast Platform Now?
As covered last week, YouTube is now #1 for podcasts and Twitter wants (back) in the game. Facebook may have quit on their podcast platform dreams, but others are just starting theirs. But why?
Podcasts are the content du jour for all the people that can’t launch a streaming platform. Facebook tried that, but clearly didn’t pay enough for top tier content. Apple dabbles in the world but can’t seem to get a true foothold. Netflix is the equivalent of a Brinks truck for creators, but even that isn’t helping them hold off the challengers at the gates.
TV shows and movies are expensive and take time to make. Podcasts are (by comparison) cheap, easy to turn out, and can be consumed way more regularly (plenty of people listen to a podcast while working, probably can’t get away with streaming Stranger Things at your desk (if you work in an office, that is)).
Ok, but what about music?
To answer this we need look no further than Spotify.
The biggest problem with being in the music streaming business is that you have to pay royalties. As your revenue grows, so do your expenses. In perfect lockstep. You’re always paying out 30% (or whatever it is) to the people you’re licensing your content from.
::whispers:: hey, come here, no, closer…too close. ok, that’s good. you know what type of audio content doesn’t work like that?
Podcasts!
So, how do you become a multi-media content platform if you can’t afford to get into the Hollywood business and you don’t want to pay licensing fees? You get into podcasts (and then probably audiobooks and meditation classes and ASMR and AI-generated relaxing sounds and who knows what else).
Reading the Retailing Tea Leaves
Because I can’t leave well enough alone, I’ve started playing with the idea of a retail / ecomm / DTC focused version of the stuff I cover here. It’s theoretically called Retailing Tea Leaves, and you can see an example here.
Is something you might be interested in? Should I keep kicking the tires on it?
An Update on the Post-Cookiepocalypse Landscape
The Trade Desk’s Unified ID 2.0 could be the solution for post-cookie advertising on the internet. There are still plenty of details to work out and scale to reach, but they keep signing big name partners while Google keeps kicking the can down the road on cutting cookies out of Chrome.
UID2.0 uses hashed and encrypted email based identifiers (jargon for email addresses) as the cookie replacement. Which, as far as I can tell, means it only works when users are logged in to the experience where the ads will be delivered. So maybe this is more post-cookie retargeting and we’ll end up with a toolbox of solutions depending on the use case.
Attack Vectors
Today in Update Your Shit: Google Chrome (again)
The US has rolled out new export restrictions to prevent sending chips powerful enough for AI applications to China and Russia. Nvidia could struggle as a result, while AMD thinks they’ll be just fine, thank you very much.
Want to get verified on The 'Gram? All you need to do is open a few accounts on music streaming services, push in some random music, maybe snap a picture or two that makes it look like you know how a studio or related equipment works, and convince Zuck's Disposable Camera App that you're a real live musician. Or, at least, that was an option before the scam got slammed.
Click a bad link, get your TikTok account hacked. This was a vulnerability uncovered by Microsoft on The Trend Machine's Android app (it's been patched).
The FTC has filed a lawsuit against a data brokerage for selling location data that can trace device movements to places such as abortion clinics and places of worship.
Algorithms
An algorithm is like a map: it means as much through what it leaves out as through what it includes.
-Marcelo Rinesi, A throwaway note on haunted algorithms
A good recontextualization of algorithms and how to think about them.
Welcome to the future of image creation. (More of my thoughts (cause you want to read more of those, right?) on this coming soon?)
Pinterest has gone back to its roots, launching an invite-only app that puts a twist on saving and sharing visual inspiration. It's called Shuffles. Refreshingly, it's all about images (cynically, it's more BeReal than TikTok). Collect photos from your gallery with pins into a mood-board like collage (you turn multiple images into one with the help of various AI-powered tools (I'm sure)) that you can then share within the app or on other platforms. The goal? Turn content consumers into creators via curation and, hopefully, keep Pinterest relevant.
Snapchat’s trying to BeReal like Insta with the release of a dual camera feature. I think it makes more sense for The Ghost than The Gram, but the big players seem to be differentiating based on the number of extra features / options they can add. Which feels like they’re missing the point.
Reddit bought an AI company in the hopes of turning user conversations into ad targeting options.
Slim Jim’s (self-)appointment as TikTok’s CEO of verified comments has done wonders for its account growth.
Facebook closed down a feature that cloned a “competitor” after coming to the realization that they can best serve the niche by using features they already have. In this specific case it’s Neighborhoods, but could apply to basically everyone of these types of shuttered efforts. Maybe one day they’ll learn from this pattern.
Want to create a VIP experience for your loyal customers / fans / stans… on Twitter? You can do that now with the wide rollout of Circles (the feature “borrowed” from Instagram “borrowed” from Snapchat). Could be a good spot to share exclusive content, early access, promos and coupon codes, sneak peeks, etc.
As Apple ramps up their advertising business, they should probably figure out their App Store policies and implement them for real. A common complaint for a while now has been that approvals seem entirely subjective and unrelated to any written guidelines. Companies don’t want to advertise on a place filled with scammers and junk, especially if they think it’s the only way to cut through the crap.
The Most Magical Place on Earth wants to create the Most Magical Membership Program on the Internet. Who knows what it will look like or cost if it happens, but they are taking their first step towards being their own Amazon or Walmart by launching a shopping tie in to Disney+. Just scan a QR code and buy a shirt.
Welcome to WAAS, warehousing-as-a-service. Of course, that’s now new, but now Amazon is going all-in as a logistics company and offering warehousing and distribution services, so it will have to be approached as some sort of tech disruption project. For real, it’ll be interesting to see what kind of impact this has on the industry. Ecomm and Amazon sellers were a target for traditional logistics suppliers that could be swallowed by the whale. The whale building multi-million square foot warehouses. That’s an order of magnitude above what is saw being built in the community I did economic development for in a previous role.
Ads
Netflix is going ghost again, but this time with targeting and tracking data on its not-yet-launched ad platform (or so I’ve heard). According to some ad buyers that met with Red N other ideas being floated are: $65 CPMs (competitors are usually in the $40s, max), a $20 million buy limit, and 4 minutes per hour of ads (I think this matches the Disney+ plan).
Advertise on Twitter? They've released a handy guide to the most effective ad combos for 3 goals: building brand awareness, boosting purchase intent, and increasing brand favorability.
Google's Smart Bidding just got smarter for online and in-store retailer using Google Ads to drive both goals. Use conversion value rules to alter the weights of each to align with business objectives.
YouTube is testing a Promotions tab in YouTube Studio that would let creators but ads directly on the platform, instead of getting kicked over to Google Ads. Preparing for a split or just improving user experience? (Or trying to drive more revenue? (Or all of the above?))
Mobile app developers and publishers are turning to Apple Search Ads after the whole privacy rollout thing in iOS 14.5, but most of their budgets are going to video and display ads. According to this post, "video ads are the most effective ad type."
Analytics
The plural of anecdote is not data.
-Shane Parrish, Evaluating Information: Find the Signal in the Noise
85% of YouTube users watch videos at faster speeds. A good thing to keep in mind when creating a video for the platform. Maybe watch it at 2x and make sure nothing gets lost. (Nearly positive playback speed does not apply to ads.)
Audiences
Holiday shopping season has started. Holy Christmas Creep, Batman. Walmart is leading the charge by launching their top toy list a month early. Now the question is, will customers get on board? Plenty of surveys suggest they will.
The Apple Watch is really popular with…kids? I should say, with parents of young kids. There’s a growing trend of cellular-enabled smartwatches being used as a smartphone proxy for kids. Get the ability to reach them without the pitfalls of handing them a screen.
Æconomy
Remember that student loan forgiveness thing Joey White House did? Turns out, economists aren’t stoked on it. General consensus seems to be that the program is regressive (helps out the well-off more than the people who could use it most) and could easily lead to moral hazard (incentivizing bad behavior). (And no, this is unlikely to add to that whole inflation thing.)
Alternates & Assorteds
Back in the days of Windows XP and 5400 rpm hard drives, a laptop lab found that a Janet Jackson music video held the power to crash computers. And not even just the ones playing it, but ones nearby. It turns out the song contained one of the drive’s resonant frequencies, which caused some issues.
Honda is planning on building a battery plant in the US to help power their electric vehicle ambitions. Battery tech is one of the more interesting sectors to watch in the coming years, IMHO.
Rabbbits Weeekly: Words About Audio (Podcasts)
Forgot to actually link that blog mention at the top, so, here you go: https://chasingrabbbits.xyz/on-social-media/