Happy Amazon Prime Day to all who celebrate — the ecommerce giant’s ode to excess consumerism kicks off today. The two-day shopping event is expected to drive ~$14B in spending, as Americans replace the good-for-nothing 40%-off wireless headphones they bought during last year’s event with fresh piece-of-shit 40%-off wireless headphones.
In today’s email:
Disney: Is it losing its young audience to YouTube?
Neckties: A decades-long plunge in popularity.
Weird patents: The urinal-adjacent invention absolutely nobody needed.
Around the web: Why Catwoman flopped, a bunch of old maps, and more.
👇 Listen: The denim industry is booming, so why is Levi’s lagging?
The Big Idea
Will Disney lose the kids to YouTube?
Kids don’t watch TV like they used to. Now, it’s YouTube over Disney.
2024-07-16T00:00:00Z
Juliet Bennett Rylah
Most of today’s adults could easily recall their favorite Disney or Nickelodeon shows — shoutout to “Legends of the Hidden Temple,” the greatest game show of all time.
But today’s youth have more options than ever, and Business Insiderposits that Disney is facing a problem: It’s lost its “monopoly on kids.”
One stat: The Disney Channel boasted ~2m average daily primetime viewers in 2014, but tanked to 132k in 2023.
If not Disney, then what?
Kids are consuming media on streaming services… but not Disney+. YouTube captures 23.3% of TV viewing among children ages 2-11, followed by Netflix at 13.7% and Disney+ at 7.6%.
Viewing habits among children have shifted to favor short videos over full shows or movies. YouTube offers a trove of free videos, while its algorithms serve up an endless supply of tailored content.
“Cocomelon” began as a YouTube channel, and still has 178m subscribers on the platform (Disney Channel has 9.1m).
These shifting patterns affect Disney’s ability to gain loyal fans who not only want their content, but merchandise and experiences.
So what are companies like Disney doing?
Several traditional TV channels have made their own YouTube channels — including Disney, which racked up 34m+ YouTube views by posting episodes of Star Wars Young Jedi, perWired.
Kid-centric media could also find ways to collaborate with other platforms kids enjoy, including “Fortnite” and Roblox…
… or try to market to adults:
In 2022, 60%+ of its Disney+ subscribers were adults without children at home — unsurprising, given its most talked-about shows are Marvel and Star Wars series aimed at adults.
So-called “Disney Adults” have money to spend big on theme park visits, hotels, and merchandise.
But what happens when today’s YouTube kids become adults without the same nostalgia touchstones? Will we be getting a Ryan’s World immersive experience or a three-hour MrBeast biopic?
Or maybe we’ll have fully committed to AI-generated worlds and full-body VR suits by then.
Toolbox
If you’re the type of person who already has dozens of different browser tabs open, what’s three more? If you’re not, these helpful links are a solid place to start your tab-hoarding habit.
✍ Write sharper: A clever copywriting technique that can turn your words into a concise, engaging “mind movie.” AI could never.
🧠 A case study: A celeb-backed protein bar for a great cause sounds like business gold — but the pitch was lacking. What went wrong?
🌎 Lead everywhere: A global operations wiz shares her strategies for navigating cultural nuances on diverse, international teams.
TRENDING
Lagging a little this AM? Just chug some BBQ sauce. The caffeine zealots at 5-Hour Energy concocted a limited-time peach mango BBQ sauce with 60 milligrams of caffeine per serving.
SNIPPETS
Google parent Alphabet is reportedly in talks to acquire Wiz, a cybersecurity startup, for ~$23B. If finalized, it will be Alphabet’s biggest acquisition to date.
Macy’s is ending negotiations on a ~$6.9B buyout with Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management, citing uncertainty over financing.
Bad week for Burberry: The luxury retailer’s stock dropped 16%+ Monday morning after reporting a 21% sales drop in the 12 weeks through June 29, suspending dividend payments, and replacing its CEO.
Entire continents’ GDPs look like chump change to BlackRock, which hit a staggering new record in assets managed last quarter: $10.65T. The thick-walleted firm added $1.22T in assets over the last year.
Apple’s focus on India is paying off: Its revenue in the nation is up 33% YoY. Still, only 3.5% of India’s 690m smartphones are iPhones and the Indian market accounts for just 2% of Apple’s total sales.
Nestleopened an experiential Nespresso store in Austin, Texas, this month with more locations planned for 2024 and 2025. The concept includes classes, tastings, a coffee bar and lounge, and a focus on sustainability.
Taylor Swift broke her own 11-week record with “The Tortured Poets Department” album entering its 12th week atop the Billboard 200 chart. The album has 3B streams and just shy of 5m sales in the US.
Cornell University scientists are designing a spacesuit that recycles astronauts’ urine into water, a la Dune. Typical suits hold urine in an absorbent polymer, which has led to health issues.
Real freaky stuff: Roboticists at Yale University built a soft-bodied quadruped robot that can amputate its own limb when stuck, then reverse the process to reattach pieces of itself.
One big rule of ours? Never send a subject line that sucks. Here are 100 little hooks to help you spruce up your emails and achieve the open rates you’ve always dreamed of.
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Data Point
“Not even a close tie” is what we’d say when comparing the popularity of neckties in the ‘90s to today. Because — save for weddings, funerals, and the occasional job interview — no one’s really wearing them anymore, perThe New Yorker.
Even before the pandemic expanded “business casual” to mean slippers and pajama pants off-screen during Zoom calls, neckties were already getting thrown to the back of the closet. Tie sales in the US fell to $677.7m annually in 2008, down from a peak of $1.3B in 1995.
As of 2023, most American workers are keeping it casual, with 41% saying their typical work attire is business casual and 31% saying they stick to casual street clothes, according to a Gallup survey. And that changes more than the dress code on our happy hour invites — it’s informing how retailers develop and market products for the American consumer.
Fit The Bill
There are thousands of companies valued at $1B+. How many clues do you need to identify today’s billion-dollar brand?
Clue 1: Founded under the name GoldStar, this company deserves a gold star for inventing the world’s first internet-connected refrigerator.
Clue 2: The company says its “technology, development and modernisation” has made it “one of the biggest names in the world.” If you launched the world’s first 60-inch plasma TV, you’d be pretty confident, too.
Clue 3: “Biggest names in the world” is a stretch, though, considering this Korean company’s brand name is only two letters long.
👇 Scroll to the bottom for the answer 👇
Weird Patents
Bathroom break: You are getting sleepy… very sleepy — at the urinal, apparently. Or at least that’s what Eric Page of Sarasota, Florida, thought when he patented a “forehead support apparatus” for urinals in 2004. The compressible headrest would let a visitor “restfully lean” his forehead against the wall while relieving himself. Why, you might ask, would anyone willingly press their face against the wall of a public bathroom? Well, because: “Those who are tired and weary and find themselves in need of using a urinal or a commode may find the time required to stand in an upright position excessively long and burdensome.”
AROUND THE WEB
📚 On this day: In 1995, Amazon launched as an online bookseller. Founder Jeff Bezos initially named the service “Cadabra” (short for “abracadabra”) but renamed it after someone misheard it as “cadaver.”
Did you catch that bit about the decline in necktie sales? Not shocking for those working in an office that has kombucha on tap, but hey — there are a lot of other industries out there.
