🤷♂️ No top story, but a lot of news
It's been a long week, I'm sorry.
👋 Welcome to FWIW by David Tvrdon, your weekly tech, media & audio digest.
Thank you for your patience this week. I couldn’t keep up with my regular schedule of sending out this newsletter on Thursday/Friday. I was travelling (both for work & visiting family) and in between just haven’t had enough time to complete the digest. That’s why there is no top story this time.
Also, my great editor Celine is on holiday so sorry for a bit messier edition.
Correction: In the previous edition I hinted that CNN+ numbers might be low because people already have other ways of watching CNN. CNN+ doesn’t offer live CNN. They say: CNN+ does not simulcast CNN's existing channels; you'll still need a pay-TV subscription to see those. Thanks, James, for correcting me.
In this edition
USB-C is coming everywhere to Apple
There are now 200 million creators
Microsoft is building an ad program for Xbox games
TECH
📣🇪🇺 The Digital Services Act was approved by legislators in Brussels. DSA will introduce more responsibility to the platforms for policing their content. Targeting users online based on their religion, gender or sexual preferences are among the practices to be banned. [FT, EU]
⚡️🇪🇺 USB-C could be standard for all smartphones and tablets. The European Parliament's consumer protection committee voted 43 to 2 for a USB-C consumer electronics charging standard. A full parliament vote is planned for May. Members of the European Parliament also want the European Commission to harmonize wireless charging technologies by 2026. [ZDNet]
🤨 Twitter vs. Elon Musk: The Twitter board applied the ‘poison pill’, a common way to fend off a potential hostile takeover by diluting the stake of the entity eying the takeover. Meanwhile, Elon Musk secured funding. FT points out that even if Musk doesn’t succeed in buying Twitter this whole saga will change the platform forever with the increased scrutiny it will face. [FT]
📲 Instagram will prioritize original content more. This means recommending accounts that aggregate and reshare other users' content less and I suppose this is also aimed at resharing TikTok videos. [TechCrunch]
📈 Tesla beat analysts’ expectations in Q1 2022. Gross profit of $5.54 billion in its main segment. Regulatory credits accounted for $679 million of automotive revenue for the quarter. [CNBC]
📉 Data shows e-commerce as a percentage share of all US retail has almost returned to pre-pandemic levels. E-commerce retailers that rode a surge of online purchases in 2020 are now grappling with the fact that some customers have returned to stores. [WSJ]
😮 Snapchat’s booming. The app now has 332 million daily users, up 18% from last year. Reasons: messaging, better Android experience (usually, iOS is a priority), no public feed (built for intimate group chats), AR. [Big Technology]
🛒 Amazon unveils Buy with Prime, allowing merchants to use Amazon's shipping and logistics network to fulfil orders placed on their own sites. [CNBC]
💰 Apple spent a record quarterly high of $2.5 million on lobbying in Q1 2022 amid increased antitrust scrutiny. This is how you know someone is nervous. Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon still outspent Apple, but its increase is unusual. [Bloomberg]
MEDIA
📺 HBO Max now has 77 million subscribers. [Variety]
📊 There are now 200 million creators. According to a new report by Linktree. The last one, from 2020 by SignalFire, claimed 50 million. Some stats: 66% of creators said they do it part-time. 36% have been making content for less than or equal to a year (of those, 59% aren’t making money yet). Just 12% of full-time creators said they earn more than $50,000 per year and 25% of creators earn the most income from their website or blog. [The Information]
🧐 Netflix lost subscribers for the first time in more than ten years. The company said it is considering an ad-supported tier, will crack down on 100 million users sharing passwords and might reconsider its binge model. [Vulture]
👏 Joe Kahn is officially named the next executive editor of The New York Times. Not a big surprise to industry followers and it seems to be one of the smoothest transitions in recent memory. Although many seem to be asking what’s NY Times going to be under the new editor. [NYT, NY Mag]
📝 A new platform that allows for participating newsletters to have ads dynamically inserted into their emails has launched. Paved is building another stack of the creator economy that is new to newsletters but helped YouTube grow. The question remains whether the service can execute and how well it will work. [Simon Owens]
📲 Global smartphone shipments fell 11% in Q1 2022. Samsung led the market with a 24% share, Apple came second and Xiaomi stayed in third place. While the iPhone 13 series continues to capture consumer demand, the new iPhone SE launched in March is becoming an important mid-range volume driver for Apple. [Canalys]
🤓 In-depth analysis is the latest trend on TikTok. Started after the platform allowed to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, creators producing explanatory videos are beginning to pop up more and more. [Vox]
😞 CNN’s incoming president, Chris Licht, said he would stop using Twitter once he starts his new position. Although I understand, a chief media operator’s Twitter (or LinkedIn) can be a good source of information. [The Information]
RELATED: CNN+ is shutting down (and everybody is calling it a new Quibi). Both Axios and the NY Times have the inside stories of the implosion.
😳 Jon Stewart’s series on Apple TV+ is the latest talk show to struggle on a streaming service. [Bloomberg]
FROM THE FIX
3️⃣ Grants can be a treadmill and a trap
4️⃣ Five insights into the most engaging content about the war in Ukraine
5️⃣ Perugia Declaration for Ukraine
[ 📬 Get The Fix newsletter delivered to your inbox every week with the latest insights, news, and analysis about the European media market. Sign up here > ]
AUDIO
🎧 25% of Brits listen to podcasts each month. A recent podcast survey by UK media regulator Ofcom just confirmed the same number from Edison Research’s Infinite Dial UK this December. The most popular podcast listening app is Spotify, followed by BBC Sounds, YouTube and Apple Podcasts. [Ofcom]
🎥 Video podcasting on Spotify is now available to everyone in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Spotify also introduced integration with Riverside.fm which enables creators to record and publish video content with one host and up to seven guests for free with Riverside, with a quick distribution path to Spotify, claims the company. It’s a shame this is only for Spotify although video podcasting is supported by multiple podcast apps (i.e. Apple Podcasts). [Anchor.fm]
😶🌫️ Spotify is following the lead of other platforms and reducing misinformation’s reach and discoverability. Still, if someone already subscribes to the Joe Rogan podcast this algorithm change doesn’t change anything and listeners are not being notified of anything. [NiemanLab]
👋 After the Rogan dealmaker, the Obamas are also leaving Spotify. Barack and Michelle Obama's production company Higher Ground will not be signing a new deal with Spotify and is in talks with others like Audible. My bet is they end up at Amazon (Audible). [Bloomberg]
🛒 Bloomberg’s third season of the Foundering (The Amazon Story) podcast finished. You can binge the whole season. The previous two were about TikTok and WeWork. [Bloomberg]
GAMING
🎮 Microsoft is building an ad program for Xbox games. The ads shouldn’t disrupt the games, they may appear on a billboard in a racing game. [Insider]
A SUPER LONG READ
👀 An in-depth investigation into the $12B spyware industry, dominated by Israel's NSO Group. [New Yorker]
CAN NOT STOP WATCHING
📺 Thanks to The Publish Press newsletter about the creator economy I discovered this YouTube channel (below) that documents bushcraft, shelter-making and surviving in the wilderness. The 10–25 minutes long videos with ASMR-style sound and no dialogue are produced by a French creator called Cyprien.
❓ Poll: Have you started shopping more in shops instead of online shopping?
🙌 Thanks. I used HandyPolls to create this poll (instructions).
Last poll results: How much are you following the war in Ukraine? (in brackets are the results from the first time I did this poll in early March) 36% subscribe to special newsletters on the topic and read about it once or twice a day (17% in March); 25% don’t follow at all (14% in March); 21% had to stop following, only look at a summary of what's happened the day before (22% in March); only 11% follow daily (30% in March).