The Truth Behind Huge Celebrity Podcast Deals
Podcasts are what I call a 1-1-98 platform — 1% make good money, 1% make great money, and 98% don’t.
Podcasts are incredibly hard to:
Build an audience (listenership is hard to build and harder to keep listening)
And keep that audience engaged - it’s a huge time commitment
Find guests
Organise and edit
Make money from
Finding sponsors
Find partners who are willing to be placed against content they can’t control
These are just a few reasons why podcasts have been flooded with celebrities and influencers creating podcasts and joining ad and media networks. They have the audience already built in (the superfans will go anywhere they go), they have a phone book full of friends for guests, they have an inbuilt team creating, editing and helping with distribution and ad deals are factored in upfront.
So let’s dive deeper into these major deals and why brands compete on huge deals for “podcasts”.
The Mega Deals
There have been 4 huge deals worth over $100m this year for popular podcasts:
This week; The Kelce brothers (NFL players) have signed a 3-year $100m deal with Wondery (part of Amazon).
Last month; Call Her Daddy co-creator Alex Cooper signed a new 3-year deal worth $125 million with SiriusXM (for her podcast and her new network of podcasts) leaving Spotify.
In February; Joe Rogan renewed his Spotify contract for another 4 years for $250 million.
In January; SmartLess (with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, & Will Arnett) left Wondery for a 3-year deal worth $100 million with SiriusXM (Warren Buffet famously invested heavily earlier this summer in SiriusXM).
This is (US) Podtrac data from July with the podcast publishers and the size of their audience with downloads. Many have huge networks of shows that enable a bigger deeper ad offering.
Wondery which is part of Amazon signed The Kelce brothers podcast and joins their 625 roster of podcasts.
Above data and screenshot via Chartable - The majority of the top ranked podcasts are celebrity fronted and are on media or ad networks -- independents really struggle to rank and then monetise outside of the top 250 podcasts.
So What? Why Is This important?
Costs: There are now millions of podcasts but very few are independent and few make money if anything they lose money with the cost of tools and time
Fees First: Celebrity fronted Podcasts (in-built audience and superfans) have become incredibly popular, especially a-list podcasts, celebrity pods dominate the podcast rankings and hold typically huge bi-weekly audiences, so much so these podcasts charge 5 to high 6-digit rates for ads, some smartly charge huge figures to advertise on the back catalogue.
These stars have the option to go out and create a podcast with a team and a network behind them or go and join YouTube like Ronaldo and Tom Brady have in the last few weeks
Reach - Audience - Spread: The influence celebrity podcasts have is far-reaching, especially what is being shared and the stories being told (untold elsewhere), these are then flipped into news stories and create headline stories in mainstream media who struggle to build relationships with stars like they used to. Podcasters and their teams know this and play to this with deliberate clips that are seeded or “leaked” from their teams
Pay To Play: Many smart PR firms are pushing their clients to host and cohost and paying large sums of money to appear on tier 1 podcasts and vodcasts (video podcasts)
Deeper Connection - Owning The Narrative(s): Podcasts are the new way to build audiences, host & control debates and are being used to rebuild careers, recent examples include: the 2 hours of Candace Owens interviewing Andrew Tate, President Trump on Theo Von podcast was something else, Peter Thiel on Joe Rogan was painful to watch — all leading to huge listenership/views and driving huge awareness to brands sponsoring
Ranking Dominance: (Shown above) Big ad & media networks back the majority of the top 200 podcasts and have big talent fronting the pod - stars come with an existing audience and advertisers will invest massively into these pods
Sponsors demand ad reads by the hosts and are charged a premium for doing so as it feels less like an ad and more like an endorsement
Product Placement Becomes Product Play: Some are now negotiating with hosts and guests to show, drink/eat the products and discuss within the podcast
Big Bucks: Acquired a popular long-form podcast on how companies were built and the strategy behind them charges $500k for 4-episode midroll sponsorship or $750k for presenting sponsor
Ads! This is why SiriusXM, Spotify and Amazon are investing millions in 3-year+ deals on these podcast advertising deals and actively negotiating against each other for these huge podcasts
New Ad Networks: Tech giants like Amazon & Spotify and Podcast networks are moving away from exclusive shows only on their platforms and moving towards owning the ads inside the pods (and connected to the pods) and inserting ads across the feeds onto Apple, Spotify and YouTube.
Ads = Paid Brand Moments Brands are looking for the best possible advertising options, whether that is brand-side to find a new audience or creators looking for ad partners to monetise their latest moves.
Brands are looking for reach, celebrities have reach & superfans are willing to support, ad networks can insert more ads (ad load aka the number of ads is up and increasing)
Existing sponsors of the athletes or celebrities will feature and become marketing moments for these brands
The Vodcast Evolution: The recent move to video-first podcasts allows their audiences to select the platform they prefer, however, importantly enabling different ad offerings from audio (podcasts) to video (vodcasts) and video can earn from views via AdSense.
The vodcast format lends itself to celebrities and influencers, seeing the celebrity (or hate watching which is common) and will lead to more ad slots inside
Over the last six months: Joe Rogan has published 1,998 videos (with his move back to YouTube he has uploaded old content onto YouTube from Spotify), with 400k subscribers racking up 1,857,540,158 views (via VidIQ). Joe Rogan has a total of 17.2M subscribers and a back catalogue of 3.2K videos.
The TLDR
Like all other platforms and channels - Brands will open up their budgets for popular podcasts and be associated with their huge reach.
Celebrities love the new format as do their PR firms and the ad-exclusive deals are huge and will continue to be while celebrity podcasters attract their celeb friends and major names to tell stories while brands can piggyback from an ad inserted into it
Media will continue to write about their pods, and their appearances and drive listeners and viewers
Fans will give them a listen and superfans will love, promote and even pay a subscription if there are PPV podcasts
Expect video to become a key part of the celebrity podcast industry and be able to charge an additional premium to be a sponsor or featured within the vodcast and then ads being inserted in to the back catalogue
FYI A more condensed version of this article was a dedicated segment from the August drop of my Must Reads newsletter.
Why Love Hate Anger LOL & Vanity Are The Key To Shareable Content
For years smart people have reverse-engineered how and why things are shared on the internet.
A handful of years ago people even got it to a point they could make something go viral…
In recent years with the shift away from a monoculture to many algorithmically driven subcultures, we have seen the way we share go from public by default to semi-private (in chat app groups) to one-to-one sharing.
From my background in crowdfunding and fundraising, there were always 4 main reasons why people share, it was simple,
Love 💜 - for the love of something or someone
Hate 🤛 - for the hate of something
Anger 😡 - something that causes anger
Vanity 💅 - something that made you look great aka vanity.
The one element we missed was LOL (😂), we have always shared laughable moments, whether that is by storytelling together, sharing a joke on email (yes this used to be a thing as did chain emails), share a clip of your favourite comedian before they were all close to being cancelled to someone banging their head or slipping over.
We have gone from sharing moments we saw → to moments others captured and then — sharing on group chats.
All of these parts of the formula are driven by you, your points of connection (nodes) and the connection and emotion it triggers. If it were a movie it would be inside out.
Love - I love this, you will love this, I love you (made me think of you), ‘this is love’ always works as it drives a deep feeling and connection.
Hate - I hate this, you will hate this, this will make you hate me, this is hatred always works as it drives a negative feeling and connects you both around something (for good and for bad)
Anger - this makes me angry, this will make you angry, look at this angry mob etc picks on what we can be driven by or are looking for
LOL - this is funny, this will make you laugh, this is funny do you remember this - all are centre points based on laughing together or sparking a memory
Vanity - look at what I did, look at what this person said about me, look at your post doing well - all is about making you or your friend/colleague feel good.
If you are building a Product or looking to build out product features, definitely consider how you leverage these 5 emotions to help make your product sticky and truly build features that gain shares with these 5 emotions front of your mind and the users mind.
I’ll leave you with the Pixar storytelling video that will help you understand storytelling and how to apply these to your work.
The Disney Dilemma Podcast - Land of the Giants
Its rare that I recommend more than one business podcast from one podcaster or network, with many being hit and miss or often they turn into case studies repackaged.
However, Land Of The Giants is one of the series of podcasts that is always worth listening to.
If you are a leader of a business, into the ops sides of companies or enjoy listening to how businesses have to balance cycles of hardship The Disney Dilemma is a brilliant listen.
It highlights why generational brands are important to us, passed down from parents and grandparents, recommended by our friends and why our kids and future generations love and will continue to love Disney. But behind the scenes it’s never easy, especially for the brand managers and highlighting why do the internal business leads have to tread so carefully and nurture the brand and not overly police it in today’s world.
I also highly recommend Ride of a lifetime by Bob Iger as a must read/listen for business leads.
Enjoy!
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The Importance Of Audio In Your Marketing Mix
MSCHF CEO On How To Go Viral Podcast
The Issue With Webinars & Potential Fixes
Webinars have a bad rep. Whenever I consult or coach CMOs, VPs and CPOs I always tell them to rebrand the webinar, don’t call it a webinar as they are mostly broken.
I bet you joined a webinar (most likely live) and you waited 5 minutes for it to start, and then for the first ten minutes it is intro, intro, intro, promote product, intro.
If you were to watch a YouTube video and it offered nothing for the first 5 minutes you would leave, let alone the first 15 minutes.
Likewise in a podcast you wouldn’t waste ten minutes with ads and promotion…
Webinars were designed for the viewer, give value as quickly as possible. Most people attending aren’t there for the logos, they want to know something they didn’t already, they want to understand if they are on the right track or want a nugget to implement in their own work to make them feel like they are the hero in their own story.
So rather than bash webinars too much, here are ways to improve them:
Short Sharp Intros: Most attendees will look up the speakers/hosts/guest, give the audience something not everything - use ice breakers if need be
Ask Hard Questions: Unless it is a presentation give a hard-hitting question early, grab the attendee’s attention, and make them want to share the answer early
Give Value ASAP: Say what it is, give a few takeaways in the first few minutes and link to the takeaways ideally the cheatsheet
Engage The Audience: The webinar needs engagement, it needs Q&A, if you are running a webinar ask questions, prep questions just in case of low engagement or low attendance and help create a safe space for questions
Expert Recap: The host’s job is like an expert panel moderator, offering expert recaps and reminding the audience of key takeaways, don’t be afraid to use notes and share nuggets as you go
Remove The Panel Problem: Some professionals don’t prep, even with a prep call they don’t feel like they need to prep or have anything ready, if a panel member is struggling to offer something, ease them towards an answer or ask them to tell a quick story
Better Landing Pages: Offer something post-event, ideally a landing page not just an email to be filtered with takeaways, links mentioned, links to LinkedIn and interactive content - so many webinars don’t think about how to engage post-event and allow the landing page to gain shares (sharing your content and your brand/platform is key)
Do Post Edit: If you have a team definitely do a few quick edits, remove long pauses, and remove the 5 minutes of set at the beginning, the post-experience is key to attendees sharing and wanting to attend another event or use your product
Reward Audience Participation: Simple and low cost, reward those who offered a question, a different point of view or shared an experience, this is easy, low cost and scalable.
And remember, yes you have a number of goals associated to your event/webinar, however, if your live audience and post viewership experience is poor you will lose any chance of building an engaged audience of potential customers or potential repeat customers.
How You Launch A Product
Adidas has shown how to launch new kits and integrate top talent with their third kit launches in their top-tier clubs.
How?
Adidas has brought back its iconic Trefoil logo and connected it to the different generations of fans and players
Adidas brought back their legendary players from each club they are promoting (two famously wearing rival brands boots in their prime)
Arsenal - Patrick Vieira (even integrating his famous vapour rub on his shirt in the promo video)
Man Utd - Rio Ferdinand
Bayern Munich - Bastian Schweinsteiger
Juventus - Alessandro Del Piero
Real Madrid - Zizu aka Zinedine Zidane
Adidas has integrated legend ex-players across their launch and teased through social media updates across all club updates
Each athlete is connected to each other in each ad (Patrick Vieira rejecting Del Piero’s call etc)
Each launch references something cultural and historical to each club (and including famous fans)
Each player used in their official promo are adidas athletes (in Arsenal’s case using Alessia Russo (Arsenal women’s player), Jurrien Timber and record signing Declan Rice)
Each update across the social media channels has been smart, leveraging different ways of using each platform, from WhatsApp Channels, Instagram to YouTube To Twitter and TikTok.
The Instagram Promo
The Promo Video Will Land With Arsenal Fans (note the video clicks through to arsenals website , please watch on Twitter or YouTube)
Here’s a smart behind the scenes look at the adidas kit launch filming ↓
Well played adidas and well co-orientated by the clubs.
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Instagram Views Metrics
Social media metrics change, constantly, it can be the most hotly contested subject by creators, influencers and brands.
Instagram updated “creators” yesterday that they were shifting to views as their primary aka most important metric (the video below explains this).
Adam Mossari the Head of Instagram shared - ““Views” the primary metric for Reels, Stories, photos and carousels.”
He also clearly references the top new important metrics
Views (Adam Mossari rightly points out there can be multiple views per piece of content, so keep this top of mind)
Sends per reach (how many people are sending your content via DM)
Reach
Core Takeaways To Consider As A Creator, Influencer Or Brand:
Views as standardised metrics are smart for Instagram but may be a little misleading for creators, it will be moving creators and brands to create more compelling (most likely video) content that is built less for public engagement but created for “sends”
Views (count) are a critical metric on Threads too - highly engaged views will likely come next, and high-value views will also be considered by Instagram in the near future (who viewed, from where, how long or how many times)
Engagement will always be important, however, engagement is lowering across the board, reactions have dropped because we live in a constant flow of content (which is too much for most of us) - engagement in public and private via sends will be critical in working out away from watch time what is
Finsta’s (private friend accounts) and sinsta’s (meme-created accounts) have sent content via DM for a long time, this will likely see many more of these accounts created - a core internal Instagram metric
Instagram have openly talked about its creation problem, but many aren’t creating (pareto law aka the 80/20 law is likely at play here - 80% viewers, 20% creators) this is a way to see curation and potentially create playlists
Brands and creators - When creating content what you are creating, why you are creating this piece of content, who will be consuming and how it will prompt a share (in DM) - this will lead to smaller accounts with more influence and reach
Follower counts will likely drop, many don’t need to follow creators and brands anymore and rely on other signals to power your FYP. Inbox shares and any comments connected to shares will enable Instagram to add more juice into certain videos, creators and the content they create
Context of the share will be important, understanding why the content was shared, how it was viewed, the reaction and interaction around that content will be critical for Instagram to improve their product and beat out competitors like TikTok.
With an unique ability to improve Threads and potentially improve WhatsApp products from this learning.
My long-term view is Instagram is pushing users to create private groups (as this was naturally happening by users, even before the purchase of WhatsApp and Instagram - these are core reasons why Meta invested so heavily) and networks of sends.
Private becomes the default and the culture of these apps, an important however here is - Instagram can build their new private graph (working out who and how people are connected) to change content consumption habits away from one feed into an inbox of content curated by friends, family and creators (sorry brands it will be highly unlikely you are included in this).
Could 100 Gigs Be The Future For Artists?
Drake dropped 100 gigs late on Tuesday, dropping 100gb of content including three unreleased tracks and tens of videos and pictures.
Many artists are becoming disillusioned with the algorithmic filtering from social networks and a shift to entertainment-based feeds (thanks to TikTok’s re-engineering of the web).
This approach does not engage the causal followers and unless you are constantly following or have alerts switched on fans will miss any update from their artist of choice.
From an artist's POV: Why amass millions of followers and be restricted by the platform?
Go back straight to the fans…especially the superfans…
The Superfan Flywheel ↑ How the superfans increase reach and sales for their favourite influencers, celebrities and creators
What Drake (& his team) have done is smart, by offering a glimpse beyond the Instagram feed, releasing songs directly for free downloads is removing the friction of these platforms enabling to see where fans are based, what songs are downloaded and streamed, which videos and images are downloaded (for free) and what platforms are driving traffic and engagement with fans.
Although the popular platforms (Spotify, Instagram etc) offer a limited number of these features, it disconnects them from the fans and limits their chances to connect.
In the near future I suspect many artists with large teams will take an approach to this, likely pushing for mobile numbers to send important updates to (like a 1-2-1 service) and looking to sign up superfans with emails (to send newsletters, exclusives and website updates to).
Is this the future not exactly industry-wide but it does offer an opportunity for artists to move away from social platforms and reward their fans with great behind the scenes view and bonus tracks that could be working harder for them.
This is how the superfan ecosystem works and how smart artists like Drake can leverage this new model to make money and connect with their fans at a much deeper level
Update 10/08/2024: The delayed release of the tracks onto Soundcloud and other streaming sites also shows how smart they have been looking at the data and then releasing to make money via streaming. Well played Drake and the OVO team.
The State Of Apps H1 2024
I found this an interesting deep dive into the most important apps and app markets, from downloads to revenue the whole industry has continued to move and shift to the Markets.
Gaming is critically important to app stores while social media and dating gains a lot of attention, this deep look emphasises how usage doesn’t always translate into revenue.
Dating Is Social?
The area that might be of most interest is the social space and revenue.
It is pretty obvious dating is an incredibly powerful market but with Match Group owning the top-grossing apps Hinge & Tinder how small the ecosystem is despite its competition.
Have a look through the gallery of images below (or flip to slides 35+ above) in and see how many apps don’t make money (especially chat apps) and how dating isn’t in the top number of downloads but commands much of the revenue.
It is important to note services such Telegram offers its own bitcoin offering (TON) and have been incredibly successful which might not be tracked. in these states, as has many developing nations have the option to natively transfer money (via WhatsApp’s native service).
Facebook’s dominance on Android is not be overlooked especially with its DAU numbers on image 5 - Meta’s ownership of conversation and shift into Groups and WhatsApp Channels might well be their next revenue play.
Social media, dating and gaming often go hand in hand, however, these show how difficult it can be to monetise or how important advertisers are within these spaces. We are likely to see more investment in H2 and see if social media apps can monetise more effectively.
Lets see how iOS18 launch impacts the space and how it could upend a number of services.
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Premier League Shirt Sponsorship Problem?
This season’s sponsors are a telling state of the sponsorship market and who can afford to invest millions into sponsorship.
I am a big football fan (arsenal fan) and a student of business - the two worlds collated when looking through the premier league fantasy football app and then spotting the shirt sponsors… it was a little troubling. (Take a look through this season’s kits here)
We have moved away from the domination of crypto brands in the last few seasons and moved towards international gambling.
It’s a powerful trend as many of these sponsors have limited presence in England and are looking to leverage the reported global viewership of ~3.2bn.
Here are some of the main takeaways taking a look through:
11 (of 20) of the main sponsors of the premier league clubs are gambling sponsors (this is agreed to stop from the 2026/2027 season)
Crystal Palance’s sponsor Net88 is not active in the UK (is regulated) and their site doesn’t work
The price of these sponsorships every season is not cheap, the lowest is believed to be north £4m per year, whereas Snapdragon's sponsorship of Man Utd is reported to be £60m per year
Notts Forest's main sponsor is the sleeve of Crystal Palace and is an official brand partner of Chelsea - it also has received warnings from the UK Gambling Commission.
Everton's main sponsor stake also owns its sleeve sponsor kick (twitch’s rival)
Shirt manufacturers is an interesting story
Adidas x7 (11 in total in English pro football)
Umbro x4 (10 in total in English pro football)
Castore x1 *but has the sub-licence to Umbro UK (6 in total in English pro football)
Nike x4 (6 in total in English pro football)
Puma x2 (17 in total in English pro football)
Macron x1 (17 in total in English pro football)
Sudu x 1 (a brand new manufacturer - a company of ex-designers from many of the largest manufacturers)
So does this mean we have an issue with sponsorship in English pro football with large gambling issues across Britain? To me, yes, but would many other industries could afford to cover these costs?
£5m per year in sponsorship is a huge investment (ask struggling car brand Cazoo and other businesses what happened with their huge investment into sponsorship) and the ROI is often questioned at the sponsor’s brand level - the next industry might have to be equally questionable or we may have to see the costs be put back on the fan… and from my experience overseeing hundreds of professional and semi-professional teams needing bailing out by fans crowdfunding, football clubs will need to be saved by their superfans again.
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Google’s AI Ad Problem
Google’s Issue Is It Put Product Ahead Of Their Audience In A Tasteless Way
You know an ad has caused controversy when the brand turns off comments on their YouTube upload… and then Thursday (1st August) night pulls the ad completely.
Dear Sydney (ad below) is one of those ads that has blown up and not in a good blown up way.
A simple ad suggesting how to use their new Gemini AI product has highlighted several issues with how the general public is reacting to AI and how it will influence parenting in the future.
What Google has failed to see is much fear around AI and its potential impact, especially on parents’ hands on / hands off approach to tech and how many fear lazy parenting and over reliance on tech will impact us all.
Google has forced their AI tech into a sporting event without thinking of the second and third-order effects of the ads.
In some respects, Google has done exactly what an ad is supposed to do, create conversation, on the other hand it has been tone deaf to how people are viewing AI.
Did It Miss The Mark Or Was For The Wrong Ad Audience? Google’s media quote is quite telling: "We believe that AI can be a great tool for enhancing human creativity, but can never replace it," I feel for Google ad communications manager Alana Beale who had to respond to media requests on an ad that missed the mark. Being in-house and responding to advertising campaign concerns or issues is not an enjoyable place or position to be in.
Gemini Gone Too Far? If Google Gemini had just helped the father tweak the say ‘sorry-not-sorry’ line for breaking Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone’s record that would have landed much better, unfortunately, this shows this ad might just be for investors and shareholders over consumers.
Keep an eye out for the next series of AI apps and chatbot ads, as the feedback, commentary and kickback will be telling in how AI tools might have to be advertised and targeted moving forward.
>> If you liked this post, read about Google’s AI battle. And how Apple’s approach to AI is likely going to win them the long-term AI battle.
Brands You Don’t Have To Say Anything
One of my biggest bug bearers is how brands fell into the trap to say something every time something happened or every time there is a calendar event happening.
Brands let the social media companies mislead them, chasing engagement and using these channels as news platforms hasn’t brought you closer to customers or fans, it has cut your reach and diluted important things you need to say.
Quality will beat out quantity almost every time.
Why? In every training workshops, in most c-suite coaching and founder expert calls I am always asked questions along these lines, should we talk about this news story or should we share something on National X or Y day, the answer 99% of the time, is don’t say anything unless you are directly helping, immediately impacted by the event or you are the go-to resource.
A free tip: Unless your brand is directly involved - it is often smarter and more authentic to say nothing externally. You will have to cut through internal pressure and say no, this is your job as a leader, knowing when no beats yes and being focused on what makes you win.
Remember this deliberate approach doesn’t mean you (and your brand) don’t care, it means when you have something important to say you will get cut through and it will land with your customers.
The less time you spend in a ‘war room’ making hard decisions and press statements (and social posts) - the better for you, the team/department and the brand.
Hodinkee’s CEO Update & “In The Comment Section”
Hodinkee (the watch editorial and ecommerce site) used to be the go to example of what a content brand could be.
It used to be a signal of how to create a media business around a theme, in their case luxury watches.
I have spoken to five businesses in the last five years who all have mentioned Hodinkee and their approach as the example of what they were attempting to replicate in their business. In most cases the investment costs to even consider this will put most businesses off.
Media Companies Of The Future: I do believe every company will become part media company - some channels and media will be a natural media fit based on their business vertical, while many others will struggle to make the transition.
The shift to commerce was a bumpy one for Hodinkee and in their recent CEO update (“A Note On The Future Of Hodinkee”) suggested they were going back to their roots. Their sub-header said it all “Spoiler alert: It looks a lot like its past, and I think you're going to like it.”
Speak With Not To: This blog post is a shining example of how to speak to and with your customers while knowing your customers and their they would respond…
“See you in the comments section!” cemented knowing how to speak to their audience while knowing them and their expected reaction(s), with 453 comments and counting this is highly unusual.
Would any other company get this feedback on-site in 2024? - I highly doubt it.
Moving into August many brands are disconnected from their customers and from knowing how to speak with and to their key audience, it is great to see a brand admitting they made a couple of strategic missteps and embracing feedback on site, rather than social media.
Best of luck to Hodinkee and if there was a coaching moment here, it would be to embrace your audience, keep them front and centre of your messaging and don’t be afraid to admit a mistake and guide them into the future.
Must Reads Drop 0724
This wee I brought back my must reads newsletter from a seven month sabbatical. I now call the newsletter a drop, it will likely be monthly, a little more like a mixtape was than a weekly newsletter.
Why The Sabbatical? We are in the biggest content tsunami we have ever been, constantly bombarded by content, whether thats video, audio, web or app based content and to be honest it is hard to cut through, especially in an email newsletter.
The Backstory: For nearly ten years every week without fail I sent out Must Reads, firstly as an internal newsletter and then once a handful of people asked me I opened it up and broaden it out further.
Why Bring Back Now: I have been writing daily on this blog, I wanted to get back into the flow of content creation and curation and then see how it felt to write it. I actually have 3 drafts that I never sent as it didn’t quite feel right or land well enough when I sent to myself.
So rather than copying and pasting it, here are the 5 most popular stories and my Netflix deepdive:
Most popular top down
BNPL to attempt to replace credit cards (what could go wrong)
Netflix 80 games release (to leverage IP and become gaming relevant)
Charli XCX summer of brat taking over (if you’re in Marketing or Growth dive deep into this music and cultural push)
Netflix Deeper Dive
Netflix Expansion Issue: Gaming is Netflix’s newest approach to capturing and owning your time and attention, the issue for Netflix it’s costing the consumer more money (away from ad tiers) and their bet isn’t paying off for now. Research is showing it’s only one game that is remotely popular. The same happened with other brands, but will this large investment be worth the added pain and expense for the consumer I highly doubt it in the short to mid-term.
Netflix's Game Portfolio is Dominated by a Single Game
Netflix is using the classic dominant media company playbook, leverage your own IP and create more media and games around it, even suggesting 80 games based on their IP. They attempted this already with podcasts but maybe this is the way to win in gaming and owning more of your time on multiple devices. LinkedIn (yes LinkedIn), YouTube and Netflix are all competing to be your canonical media company whether that’s through native content, entertainment series or games.
Below is a quote from Netflix’s shareholder letter about the importance of advertising to Netflix moving forward, with the pricing packages going up to be more profitable; the quality of its programming and cultural relevance of programmes are going to be critical for their success and continuing to open our wallets each month.
“Ads fulfil two important strategic priorities for Netflix: first they enable us to offer lower prices to consumers; and second, they create an additional revenue and profit stream for the business.”
Hot Ones Success Broken Down At Paleylive
A Deep Look Into The Internet Sensation Show Hot Ones & Why Guests Love Sean Evans Talk Show For Promo
Why Watch?
Learn:
Why the remixed British talk show host format with hot wings led to breaking the star PR / media-trained answers
How it became a huge success beyond just a new format
How actors see the Protagonist and story arch in the talk show format (and why many are flying them to record them on the show)
Why cutting it down from 45-60 minutes to the TV show format of 22:30mins was critical to its success
How the inbuilt viral moments, shorter form social sharing videos and the meme organically grew from the format
Which stars made it break out to paying to record the show on set for films
Why did the deeper and the level and depth of the research led to better questions and shocking the guests of the unique questions asked
Here are some insane stats for First We Feast Channel (via viewstats)
Total Views (as of 22/07/2024) 3,846,829,699 (this is 3.84b views)
21.8m views in the last 7 days
That makes them the 2855th most popular channels by views on YouTube
Estimated Views: Long Views - 9.6M Shorts Views - 12.2M
Examples Of The Formats Genius
The Most Viewed Hot Ones - 126m+ views with Gordon Ramsey
Inbuilt Viral Moments - Da Bomb Reactions
How Hot Ones Leverages Short Form Clips
If you liked this breakdown, check out the art of going viral with MSCHF post and video.
Ask Fatigue Impact On Your Business
Ask Fatigue is when companies constantly ask for more from their customers without any value exchange.
Here are just a few requests I have had in my email inbox & SMS over the last week:
More orders
Spend more
Share more pics or videos with us (to include in our Marketing)
More reviews (asking for TrustPilot, Feefo and Google reviews)
More upgrades (upgrade to x package)
More UGC requests (for the brand to use in their advertising)
Spend more for free delivery (to increase their AOV)
Costs more for returning orders (which used to be free)
Costs for click and collect (the convenience of collecting isn’t genuinely a value exchange)
Increase your subscriptions
I am a commercially minded executive, I know first-hand and have felt the pressures companies are under to improve financial performance, however, always asking for more and creating an associated ask fatigue, your business is skating on thin ice especially when the cost of living is higher and the unlimited amount of competitors in your space.
Something I push in my consultancy and advisory roles is to reduce the ask fatigue from your customers and if you ask what is the value exchange you are going to provide? If you cannot provide any value exchange
If you would like to hear me discuss ask fatigue more, here are two resources:
Podcast Appearance: One more question
Conference Talk: Community as the next business moat
One More Question Podcast
This is my One More Question Podcast appearance, Ross and I broke down the modern-day Marketing world, what the business impact of Marketing is really and how the creator space is leading the way for brands to improve their products and the connection with their customers.
So Why Listen?
Why being a brand and standing out is an active business decision
Why Performance Marketing vs Brand Marketing isn’t versus it is and always has to be and - if it’s not you are building a brand ready to disappear
Grasp the importance of your utility level as a company and develop this out within your messaging and growth action plan
Understand that the delivery company you choose to deliver your customer orders is a reflection on your company and your brand, your first experience will be your last if your delivery is impacted
Why my coach+ product is popular and why coaching is critically important to Marketing and Growth team successes
Nostalgia is always going to be essential in Marketing but many overlook it or don’t see the power of the archive
Understand the power of generational brands
Why being a brand not a bland is critical in winning your customers
Learn why brands can go hyper-personalised to beat out competition (a handwritten thank you note will scale for you to win and stand out)
“Brand” is a tribe and tribal - it is critical to understand when to build a tribe or ask customers to join your tribe
Be bold to win - that has to be a business decision
Why community brands could be the next big
Or listen on your podcast player of choice ↓
How Ryan Reynolds Pitches Wrexham To Each Potential Player
Many Department & Company Leads Can Learn From This Simple Approach
Many CEOs and founders can learn a thing or two from Ryan Reynolds on how he operates with Wrexham.
The top takeaway and running theme connection is key:
Speak to every new player and potential signing
He asks about their plan and their family (and what else can he do as the club’s co-owner)
He says he will leave the football to the players but the storytelling and marketing of the club and town - he will handle and do this thing
Sees what opportunities there are with the player and what they could collaborate on
In my coaching (specifically my exec coaching) I ask executives what are their unique skills and how do they stand out vs other execs from bigger or more well-known companies and go to my advice always centres around if they have high EQ show it and double down on it and layer IQ.
Maybe this is what is going to help you stand out and stand up against different execs or companies.
Netflix’s Culture & Cultural Importance
This Is Why The Podcast Format Is So Success & Why CEOs Will Want To Actively Seek Out Appearing On Episodes That Challenge Them
Anyone that knows me I love podcasts, I love pods on culture and when big company executives are more open about what is happening inside of the company. I highly recommend you listen to this podcast if you are a company exec or looking to take the next step up to the c-suite and how to handle questions (away from traditional media training).
Why Listen?
Greg Peters speaks on how they are thinking about their past to drive their future
How Co-CEOs can work together successfully and how Greg & Ted Sarandos make it work
How Netflix thinks about attention and being your canonical choice of media
The way he discusses their struggling gaming offering is brilliant listening
Why the culture has shifted and now a sports team analogy is most relevant
How ads are playing an essential part for Netflix’s long-term successes
Who their competitors are now (and their slow copying of features)
& The direction they are taking
If you enjoyed this post, you will enjoy my recent post the power of audio and the attention needed for each format
The Financial Breakdown Of Wimbledon Tennis Tournament
This is a brilliant and timely breakdown of how much Wimbledon makes.
Watch to find out more on:
How £350m is made each year
54000 balls are used in the two weeks
How it makes money from media rights, sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality, food & drink
How sponsors like Ralph Lauren, Evian, Jaguar, Land Rover and IBM make the tournament and invest millions each year in return for Marketing opportunities and ROI
Why Wimbledon will continue to raise prices knowing thousands will pay for its experience
Why strawberries and cream haven’t pricing has not changed
The business of sport is well worth a subscription, I recommend watching the business behind Tottenham Hotspurs (below) and what happens inside the boardroom there.
Is Shirt Sponsorship Worth It?
Is Sponsoring Man Utd Going To Be The Consumer Brand Moment Snapdragon Needs?
Snapdragon (the brand) is unknown to most consumers, if not almost everyone.
It’s Qualcomm’s consumer-facing brand. Maybe you’ve heard of them? Don’t worry most haven’t and wouldn’t recall the brand.
Well if you haven’t heard, I wouldn’t worry about it you’re about to see Snapdragon many times a week. Queue the Eric Cantona teaser above.
Their quick backstory:
Snapdragon is a chip in many smartphones and laptops (think PC laptops that are surfaces, Dell’s etc) that many use for work.
Snapdragon is looking to leverage the AI movement and this is a (smart) brand play
Snapdragon is a Mercedes AMG F1 team sponsor
Why has Eric Cantona returned to Old Trafford? The Snapdragon brand has just become the shirt sponsor of Manchester United, meaning they’ll be featured on the kits (think live TV coverage, Match Of The Day, social media highlights, fans wearing their team kits (home, away and 3rd shirts) & global TV ads constantly in your social feeds through players, TV and in your daily lives).
The BIG Question: Is £60m A Year Worth The Investment?
Will $75m/£60m a year (for a 5-year deal) sponsorship of one of the top teams in the world be worth it for Qualcomm and their consumer chip Snapdragon?
Or is this more of an awareness play? Will the CMOs get the leeway and the access to make this worth the big long term investment?
But what if the brand isn’t expecting any payback from their huge investment - is this ok? In my boardrooms now it won’t be ok, it is for the Marketing & Partnerships teams to make the most out of this, to get in front of the core consumer and bring the Snapdragon brand to the forefront of the purchase cycle when buying a new laptop or smartphone with the chip in it.
Shirt Sponsorship is really the new billboard, it spreads far and wide and brand recall shoots up, but the hard question to answer is it ever going to be worth while? The Qualcomm management team have compared it to a weekly SuperBowl ad… I hope they are right and give their teams internally the creative space to make more out of it.