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- 🔥 The King of (Dumb) Phones is back
🔥 The King of (Dumb) Phones is back
Plus: More sports for 'free'...
Oli Thomas
May 14, 2024
So we’re here off the back of a weekend which started with the UK receiving ‘nul’ points from the Eurovision public and ended with the BAFTAs reminding everyone what a creative powerhouse this is.
Last week, the BBC launched an Mbappe documentary alongside a 6 part podcast series which featured a deeper dive into some of the stories from the doc. Love this approach. More premium (TV) documentaries should utilise podcasts to dig deeper and tell a longer-form narrative: appeal to different audiences, and squeeze more juice from those creative lemons (with much of the research, interviews, and creative assets already sorted).
The big guns were also out there flexing their muscles once again - Amazon pushing further into talk shows (and influencer-led formats) and Netflix closing in on live streaming NFL games.
But if - like me - you’re already spending too much time on screens, then maybe the best thing you can do is ignore all of this and get yourself the revamped Nokia 3210…
Vamos 👍
Sky launches Sky Sports+
The headline news is that Sky Sports subscribers will now get 50% more live sports with the new Sky Sports+ service - effectively lots of extra concurrent live streams being loaded into its OTT services (Sky Sports mobile app and Now TV app).
All this for FREE!
Except its not really for free is it.
Last month, the price of Sky Sports went up 12% (£25 → £28 per month).
And the sports in question - non-Premier League football, Tennis and Golf - are not the biggest audience drivers.
But Sky need to keep bolstering the offering. Netflix, Apple and Amazon are all sniffing around the Sports domain. And at a broader Pay TV level, its estimated that Sky will lose around 1.8M subscribers by 2029.
Will providing loads more EFL games, tennis and golf help retain people? Maybe. But either way, sport is the cornerstone of Sky’s proposition in the UK so anything that helps bolster that makes strategic sense.
Read more here
Snake is back 🕺
There’s nothing better than a product that takes you right back to school - when you had nothing better to do than hammer out texts to your friends (“TB”) and play snake.
So something tells me the team behind the relaunch of the Nokia 3210 - which went on sale last week - might be on to something.
And its not just the nostalgic Millenials they’re aiming at. Increasing numbers of Gen Z are ditching their iPhones in exchange for ‘dumb’ phones. And the new 3210 is just that - it has a basic camera, an MP3 player, and is 4G enabled for calls and texts. Oh and Snake. But thats your lot.
So if you’re looking to reduce screen time and get those fingers working again on the old numerical keypad, this could be for you 👌
Source: HMD/Nokia
Read more here
Netflix is a Joke
The 2nd ever ‘Netflix Is A Joke’ comedy festival has just come to an end.
Running for 2 weeks, it features over 500 shows, many of which are live streamed and/or recorded for future release on Netflix
For Netflix, the event = publicity, ticket sales, merch sales, and content
Comedy is big business for Netflix and running events like this allows them to further eat up the streaming rights for big comedians
It also allows Netflix to test out its live streaming ahead of some of its big sports fixtures (eg. Tyson v Jake Paul + WWE). And Netflix is reportedly close to acquiring rights to two of the Xmas NFL fixtures - a big sign of its intentions in live sports.
After taking over the TV, Netflix now has its sights set on the water cooler.
And the effect of Netflix’s investment in comedy is reverberating across the wider industry - even demand for ticket sales are at record highs 👇
Source: Bloomberg
Read more here
Amazon interactive videos
With an average monthly reach of over 200 million ad-supported viewers, Amazon’s Prime Video platform is well positioned to be the player in the interactive commerce space.
And last week it announced a number of new ad formats, alongside increased functionality through the remote control, so you can easily buy what you see.
Formats:
Shoppable carousel ads - a scrollable bank of products from a sponsor that can be added to the shopping cart via the remote
Interactive pause ads - you pause the show, an ad appears for a product, and you can bang it straight in your shopping cart
Interactive brand trivia ads - a more descriptive option, where brands can learn more about brands & products
At first glance, these formats don’t feel very well integrated into the viewing experience but those few seconds saved in using the remote vs pulling out your phone could lead to significant conversion rates.
Read more here
The Creator Economy opportunity
Another week, another article about the massive potential of creator-backed product launches.
Goldman Sachs value the creator economy at around $250B, and project it to grow to $500B by 2027.
And investors are starting to pile into creator-backed ventures.
But these are not like traditional ventures. They are heavily reliant on one personality. The good side is that these personalities drive emotional connections that corporate brands could only dream of. The down side is that they are human beings, with the instinct for greed, for distraction, and for mistakes.
Indeed it was the very same week that Mr Beast dumped his talent management firm that have supported him since 2018 - a 6 year period in which he has gone from 4M subscribers to 257M…
Read more here