Ryan Detert

TV right now is wall-to-wall "mid." But why? I think a lot of pieces right now are missing the true culprit. For example, this James Poniewozik piece does a fantastic job of laying out what exactly that looks like: all-star casts and highly-competent direction, but familiar and low-stakes. Like a fancy cheeseburger. He, like most pieces on the subject, pins it on the streaming business model. I think there's something else going on that's different about TV today versus when people were glued to The Wire, The Sopranos, or Twin Peaks that goes deeper than the underlying business model. It's our second screen. When I talk to friends about what they're watching, a lot admit they can't watch foreign language TV, or stuff that's too complex, because they have their phone or laptop open. We’ve relegated TV to comfortable background noise. The streaming model gives people what they want, but what they overwhelmingly want is comfortable and mid, not because that's where their tastes lie if something has 100% of their attention. It's because they are calibrating their TV taste to what works for 40% of their attention. I don't have a solution, but I'm pretty sure that's the cause. I don't think Hollywood has lost its spark or financiers have lost their taste for risk. We've lost our taste for stuff that requires our full attention.

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Disney Calendar Q1 2024 Earnings (FY Q2): DTC streaming business of Disney+ and Hulu had an operating income profit of $47M, ESPN+ lost $65 million. Added 6.3M Disney+ Core subs (117.6M total), excluding Disney+ Hotstar, which lost 2.3M subs. Hulu SVOD gained 700,000 subs (45.8M total), Hulu + Live TV lost 100,000 subs (4.5M total). ESPN+ lost 400,000 subs (24.8M total). Will add an ESPN Plus tile to Disney+ this fall, giving subscribers access to "select live games and studio programming" within the Disney+ app. Disney will begin cracking down on password sharing starting in some markets in June, followed by a wide rollout in September. UPDATED 11:28am EST - Stock is down almost 10%. Earnings release: https://lnkd.in/ea58MB2n -- #hulu #streamingmedia #disneyplus #espnplus #SVOD #AVOD

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In case you missed it, catch up on last week's insightful episode of Rock The Stage Show! 🎤 Watch as host Rich Trigger Bontrager and Curt Doty, Founder of RealmIQ and former NBCUniversal executive, dive deep into the impact of AI on our lives and careers, along with what the future holds for artificial intelligence. 🤖 Don't miss this engaging discussion on The Public Place Network #Talkshow #AI #Technology_News #futurecast #futurist

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What does it take for a startup to succeed in music-tech? More than Product-Market fit -- you also need Industry Market fit and Investor Market fit. I wrote about these patterns https://lnkd.in/gF4wBSfX

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The Neighborhood Studios team spent the last few days thinking about our new idea pipeline and its output. Tons of thoughts on this after being in a venture studio for 2 years. Here are some summary stats... - 1,750 new (raw) ideas considered per year. - 110 of those are given a second glance. - 66 of those are seriously considered. - 10 of those become experiments...real products in the hands of customers. - 2 of those are spun-out into studio companies. What the studio team has been discussing over the past few days is that 66 number. That's the number of ideas that 3 people on the team can dig into every year. Venture studios can be perceived as a "startup factory"...an engine to launch startups. The reality is that venture studios are a machine to invalidate ideas. We invalidate many more ideas than we validate. We touch 1,750 ideas per year, seriously dive into 66 of them, build experiments for 10 of them and only launch 2 of them. All that work turns into 2 studio companies per year that have a way higher success rate than the average startup in the wild. Said another way...startups are hard. Talk with Tapan Patel Gabe Hart Whit Anderson IV Jonathan Brinson if you wanna talk about this. They are world class.

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Amazon's Q1 Ad Revenue has skyrocketed by 24% YoY to $11.8B! This is partly due to the strong start that streaming TV ads have experienced. In addition, revenue from Amazon's subscription services grew by 11% to $10.72B. This segment includes fees associated with Amazon Prime memberships, digital video, audiobook, digital music, e-book, and other non-AWS subscription services. It's no surprise that Amazon's "Fallout" going viral helped play a role as it has become the most popular top search term on Amazon. Check out more details here: https://lnkd.in/gBan2hCR ❓Are you looking to leverage Amazon’s Sponsored TV growing ad space to boost your brand’s visibility and sales? Book a meeting with me using my booking link found on my profile. #StreamingTvAdvertising #SponsoredTV #AmazonAds #AMZN

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It’s one thing to go to events in DTC and e-comm, it’s another to fully take advantage of them. Here are my two main takeaways from the conversations I had at Shoptalk in Vegas: 1) Meeting/chatting in person is key to deepening relationships. I had the opportunity to meet customers, partners, and even Prive team members for the first time in person while at the event. Chatting in person helped us bond and understand each other better, which holds a lot of value. It was also cool to see that even in a very competitive market, people are still genuinely kind and friendly. It might seem from the outside that competitors should dislike each other, but I saw first-hand at ShopTalk that we’re all in this together and can still be kind to one another in the process. 2. Strong partnerships are something more brands are looking for. When talking with brand founders, the one big thing a lot of them mentioned was the desire for a strong partnership with every company they work with. Many people shared that they were left unsupported with tools/tech after buying them — this underscored the value of our approach at Prive. We prioritize a partnership mentality, offering whatever help our customers need post-onboarding. For a lot of brands and industry leaders, the emphasis is on the quality of partnership, not just the product features. Overall, ShopTalk was a blast and it was great getting to chat with every single one of you. If you were there — do you feel a similar way?

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UGC creators should be on red alert. UGC is turning AI-GC. We've been sharing our thoughts on AI disruption on Influencer Marketing, and predicted UGC was the most vulnerable category of the creator economy, the most susceptible to transformation. Now Techcrunch reports that TikTok will allow brands to create UGCs (more like AI GCs) with genAI. What does this mean for creators? What does this mean for brands and agencies? Will YouTube and IG follow? https://lnkd.in/dU-iPaBK

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Spy x Family CODE: White REVIEW: https://lnkd.in/gYwP_urt By Gerrymelyn Casupang, The Kitsune Network's newest member! #Crunchyroll #anime #spyxfamily #Toho #SpyXFamilyCODEWhite

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“The funding landscape has changed during the time we have been involved in it, and continues to evolve,” “And we’re evolving with it, to ensure that there is even more flexibility for companies to access the specific capital they need for a given scenario. We’ve funded well over 180 technology companies across multiple industries and verticals, and we’re not slowing down any time soon.” Regarding the total addressable market for Tractor to operate in, Imam explains that the one-funding-product-fits-all approach has required tweaking, simply due to the totally different needs expressed by the financial decision-makers, related to time, total access to the capital itself, and looming milestones that require a more strategic approach to accessing capital. “If you’re a SaaS company, or an ecommerce company, or a hardware company, or operating in a particular niche or vertical like marketing tech for example, you will have a different set of needs for funding based on your revenue,” explains Imam. “We’ve moved to a scenario-based funding model, based on the most common queries we receive at this point in time. B2B Enterprise SaaS we will always be able to fund in an instant. Other scenarios arise when the financials require a bit more flexible and bespoke assessment.” “In particular, our Inventory product points to our capability to fund in some very very specific and founder-focussed ways, and that flexibility really excites us, now and for the future.” Thank you for this write up SmartCompany!

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How Zak Walters Went From Being Ed Sheeran's Photographer To Building A Wine Brand (Vinca Wine). New episode of What It Takes is now live, with Zak Walters. In this episode, Zak walks through: - How he survive working in a fast-paced New York digital agency - Why he gave it all up to take "The opportunity of a lifetime" - What life is really like working with the biggest artists in the world? - How he co-founded Vinca, and the challenges of a start-up brand. Link to the full episode in the comments, enjoy!

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This week, a year ago, the virtual doors of my first startup closed. At 24 years old, I founded The Avana House, a Communications agency that ensured diverse voices and culture-forward brands were part of mainstream media. While running that agency, I had a front-row seat to how hundreds of companies grow, scale, pivot, innovate, raise capital, and deal with the unpredictability of startup life. What I didn't know then that I’ve realized now is that it was the BEST CEO school I could have ever asked for. Every day, I use a skillset that running a PR firm taught me. Here are just a few. Convincing editors and journalists to write about my clients taught me how to influence people through storytelling, which has been pivotal in pitching to investors and partners. The best listeners make the best salespeople. I used to think you had to assert your knowledge to be a successful salesperson. But instead, I learned the power of asking good questions and making people feel seen, not sold to. The pressure and stress of reputation management and the need to develop crisis communication plans taught me to think quickly and make strategic decisions in highly emotional situations. Most importantly, the power of relationships. If you don’t know how to build and maintain them, you have nothing. 

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"The Death of the Follower" I can't recommend this talk enough from Jack Conte, the CEO/Founder of Patreon. It's a must watch/listen for anyone who works in the creator ecosystem (including creators themselves). There is an irony of me discovering this via YouTube but the keynote explains the subtle but drastic shift from meaningful fan connections from 2000-2011 to a breaking point where platform algorithms took the reigns (and really haven't looked back). As someone who worked at YouTube for 8+ years, I struggle with this. Subscribers don't actually mean much anyone. 80%+ of watchtime comes from "Browse/Recommended" content. TikTok's FYP dissolves any sense of true creator-fan relationship. Most viewers lose track of their favorite creators. Platforms surface new videos/talent continuously and match specific pieces of content over emboldening a direct connection to a specific individual's work (especially if it's not work that drives watchtime, retention or high CTR). So where does this leave us? For creators, I don't think there will be a stark 0 -> 1 shift to suddenly jump to direct-to-fan supported sites but instead a slow merging of Ad-supported / Fan-supported content. Ad-supported sites are inherently aligned with discovery (they are selfishly going to surface the most engaging and relevant content, thus pushing you stuff you'd maybe never seek) Fan-supported sites naturally favor deep engagement trees but inherently lack discoverability. I'm curious how Patreon can solve this but there is a lot to be said about me typically going to someone's Patreon AFTER watching something on Twitch/YouTube. Connecting video (our modern language), fan-funding, discovery, and ultimately VAST CREATIVITY seems like a daunting task for a single platform to do itself but I'm insanely bullish that the next generation of creator-borne platforms are on the horizon (think Gumroad, Fourthwall, Moment, Kajabi, hell even OnlyFans). Who else am I missing here? I'd love to chat.

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The Department of Justice's (U.S.) antitrust investigation into LiveNation and its desire to break up the merger that allowed Ticketmaster and LiveNation to become one may be more than what it looks to be. Just like one person's behaviour (alleged) created the "Me Too" movement and was, as I said the morning that news broke, "the tip of the iceberg," so too is this shot across the bow. The entertainment industry has been rife with all kinds of business arrangements that defy anti-trust concepts. Conflicts of interest, much like in the startup world, where one day you are the enemy, and the next day the best friend, so too do those types of relationships exist, often masked by "attorney-client privilege, " "confidentiality agreements," "hush money" or "NDAs." Ticketmaster has forever been the bane of all venues. Few may even remember Ticketron, its ancient rival that it ground down out of existence through a sale first to Carlyle Group and then Ticketmaster. Even fewer likely remember the days of "hard tickets" that were in place before the digital era. Even fewer likely knew that (some) venues shared in the "service fee" paid by patrons to the "remote" locations. Those "remotes" were originally a minor portion of ticket sales for sporting events and concerts, but as technology rose, so did the convenience of going to the local department store or merchant with a terminal to make a purchase. The major money came through the venue's box office (remember the lines for concerts that would form nights before for the Grateful Dead?) or the local ticket brokers who bought blocks of tickets or were consigned even more. As Ticketmaster rose in strength and power, the brokers died off, the remotes became Ticketmaster locations, and the lines dwindled at arenas and stadium box offices over time. So, as the DoJ digs in, this will be part fishing expedition, part hunting lesson, but one thing is for sure: The more they dig, fish, and hunt, the more that will come out, and when that does, don't be surprised at what becomes public. Peter Csathy Tony Loiacono Charlie Lico #concerts #sports

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Huge shoutout to the CreatorIQ team for putting on another amazing event this morning in New York City. The TLDR: The Creator Economy is transforming marketing, advertising, and brand building from the ground up, and I think the next 5-10 years are going to be extremely exciting. Brands that tap into creators and influencers as the foundation of their marketing efforts will win. We've felt inklings of that shift for a long time, but finally, the data supports it. Market shifts like this can go 1 of 2 ways - they can deepen the moats of incumbents, or they can level the playing field for a new generation of companies to win. In AI, I think we're seeing the moats of incumbent deepening, which, frankly, is a bit boring. In the brand world, it's the exact opposite. The disruption is leveling the playing field, fast. Big, entrenched brands have never been more vulnerable As Conor Begley showed in his presentation, Brands like PRIME are quickly passing PepsiCo's Gatorade in social followings and growth. SKIMS is passing Spanx Alo Yoga is passing lululemon Feastables is passing Herseys And it's not even close The event and conversations were PERFECTLY timed with Chamath's report on the Creator Economy and how central it has become in every part of building a business. Whether you're selling widgets, software, or services, Creators will be a part of distribution and monetization. As Andy Dufresne said, "Get busy living (working with creators) or get busy dying." He said that, right?

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INTERVIEWS OF 2024 SXSW PITCH WINNERS:  Angelo Huang of Swif Fifty of the world's most impactful startups showcase their talents at SXSW Pitch every March in Austin. In this ongoing LinkedIn series, we interview category winners at this year's event. CEO Angelo Huang has been building Swif.ai for three years. Based in Los Altos, California, his startup won the "Enterprise & Smart Data" category at this year's edition of SXSW Pitch. Read Huang's answers to our bite-sized questions below. SXSW: What is Swif.ai?  HUANG: Swif is an AI powered unified device security for your continuous compliance. See https://www.swif.ai/ SXSW: What community does Swif.ai serve? HUANG: We serve the community of modern CISO and IT managers. SXSW: Who is your all-time favorite entrepreneur? HUANG: Elon Musk. SXSW: Best startup-related book you have read? HUANG: "Anything you Want" by Derek Sivers. SXSW: Best startup-related advice you have received? HUANG: Make something useful. SXSW: Current entrepreneurial trend that excites you the most? HUANG: AI and robotics. SXSW: Fail fast or perseverance? HUANG: Perseverance for great things and fail fast for half baked progress. SXSW: Energy drink of choice? HUANG: Monster. SXSW: If I wasn't running Swif.ai, I would be HUANG: Starting my next company. SXSW: Favorite VC? HUANG: The ones that will invest and have invested in Swif.ai. SXSW: Most over-hyped technology at present? HUANG: AI. SXSW: Most under-hyped technology at present? HUANG: AI. SXSW: What did you enjoy most about your experience at SXSW? HUANG: It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. SXSW: My startup is unique because  HUANG: Continuous compliance is one of the biggest opportunities in the next 5 years. SXSW: What is your startup's greatest need at present? HUANG: Fundraising. SXSW: What is your best advice for other startups? HUANG: Figure out GTM is very important. SXSW: What is your best trait as a leader? HUANG: A growth mindset. SXSW: What is your best trait as an entrepreneur? HUANG: I am relentless and resourceful. Learn more about Angelo Huang of Swif.ai as well as the other outstanding 2024 SXSW Pitch winners by listening to the audio of their session at this year's event. See https://lnkd.in/gHtwQB8n Finally, if you are a startup, be sure to apply for SXSW Pitch 2025 when the entry process opens in late summer. See https://lnkd.in/gE2hcVPK #sxsw, #sxsw2024, #sxsw2025, #founders, #founderstories, #entrepreneur, #entrepreneurism, #startups, #startup, Angelo Huang, Chris Valentine, Swif, #creativity, #innovation, #venturecapital, #funding, #artificialintelligence, #AI, #pitch, #pitchcompetition

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🏆 Stormi Steele, founder and CEO of Canvas Beauty, became the first creator on TikTok to reach $1 million in sales from a single live session. An amazing achievement, and I suggest everyone enjoy the video with sound on! Social commerce is not a trend but a major business in Asia. The US, and certainly Europe, are around five years behind. TikTok is taking a page from its Chinese counterpart, Douyin, which generated approximately $274 billion in e-commerce sales in 2023 alone. At the same time, TikTok is not paying creators meaningful revenue shares from advertising. It seems TikTok wants to turn everyone into an affiliate seller. Unless you follow outstanding examples like Stormi Steele and develop and sell your own brand, that is. What do you think? Is affiliate sales or developing your own brand the future for most creators? When will creator-led brands take over Licensing Expo in Las Vegas? Let's discuss in the comments. #ecommerce #tiktokshop #creators

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Great content and bundles. Live sports and entertainment. Nothing genius. Just smart marketing. No more DIGIBABBLE or should I say DISNEYBABBLE? Get on with it guys….you have it!!! The Walt Disney Company From Robinhood: “Disney’s sports push could complete its triple-threat streaming strategy California un-venture… Disney got the equivalent of a “C” from investors after it narrowly missed revenue estimates and posted a small loss in its most recent quarter. The stock fell 10% yesterday. Disney’s fourth straight disappointing quarter came as cable and box-office revenue sagged. Parks and experiences were a bright spot with strong growth as Mickey lovers kept splurging on rides. But Disney’s counting on people sitting on their couches too: Plus: Disney+ and Hulu combined were profitable last quarter for the first time, with Disney+ adding 6M+ subs for a total of 118M. But overall the streaming unit lost $18M because of ESPN+. Still, it’s a big improvement from the $659M it lost last year. Bright side: Disney expects all its streamers to be profitable by fall. It recently won its boardroom battle against activist investor Nelson Peltz, and the pressure to overhaul its biz may have lit a fire under its caboose. Once upon a tile… Disney’s expanding its sports offerings and rearranging its streaming suite as it pushes toward a profit. It plans to integrate Hulu and ESPN+ into Disney+ as clickable “tiles,” which might encourage customers to bundle up. Disney’s also working on a streaming equivalent of its ESPN TV channel (different from ESPN+). If that wasn’t enough: Disney teamed up with Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery on a live-sports mega-streaming bundle (which’ll cover over half of all US sports rights). ETA: this fall, although it’s facing an antitrust lawsuit. THE TAKEAWAY Disney’s got a three-legged streaming stool… If content is what wins the streaming race, Disney has two legs up on the competition. With Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN, the House of Mouse streams family favorites like “The Little Mermaid,” grownup series like “Shōgun,” and the main reason a lot of Americans pay for cable: sports. CEO Bob Iger’s plan to improve the quality of content (ahem: Marvel) could be the last bit of magic Disney needs.”

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