1. YouTube is planning to launch an online store for streaming video services and has renewed talks with entertainment companies about participating in the platform, according to people close to the recent discussions. The company hopes the new platform, which it is referring to internally as a “channel store” could be available as early as this fall. The move would mark a major shift for YouTube, which
has historically been focused on user-generated content but has recently been exploring ways to become a more significant player in the digital-entertainment landscape. The new store would compete with similar offerings from Apple, Amazon, and Roku. While the details of YouTube’s plans are still being worked out, the company is hoping to lure customers by offering a la carte pricing for individual channels, as well as discounts for bundled subscriptions. YouTube is also considering ways to
integrate the new store with its existing ad-supported service. The company is expected to make a formal announcement about the new product later this year. In the meantime, YouTube has been quietly working behind the scenes to sign up partners for the platform. Among those that have been approached are CBS, NBCUniversal, 20th Century Fox, and Viacom. It is still unclear, however, if any of these companies will ultimately decide to participate in the platform.
2. A startup cofounded by pop star Selena Gomez, Wondermind, is raising funds at a valuation of $100 million as it looks to capitalize on a boom in the mindfulness trend. Tennis icon Serena Williams’s venture fund, Serena Ventures, led the $5 million early-stage round, which was joined by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Sequoia Capital. Brent Saunders, the former chief executive officer of pharmaceutical company Allergan Plc and a current partner at
Evolus Inc., also participated. The company plans to use the new funding to expand its team and build out its technology platform. The mindfulness boom has been driven in part by the rise of smartphones and social media, which have created constant distractions and a 24/7 global economy. To meet this challenge, more people are turning to meditation and other mindfulness practices to help them focus and find balance. Wondermind was founded in 2018 by Gomez and her business partner, Mandy Teefey.
The company offers an app that provides guided meditations, breathing exercises, and other tools to help users reduce stress and anxiety.
3. A new Pew Research Center survey of American teenagers ages 13 to 17 finds that TikTok has rocketed in popularity since its North American debut several years ago and is now a top social media platform for teens among the platforms covered in this survey. Some 67% of teens say they use
TikTok, with 16% of all teens saying they use it almost constantly. Meanwhile, the share of teens who say they use Snapchat daily has declined from 39% in 2018 to 25% now, while the proportion who say they use Facebook has remained steady at 51%. The survey also finds that 42% of all teens say they are “almost always” online, up from 34% in Pew Research Center’s 2014-2015 survey of teen internet usage. And a majority (59%) of teens now say they spend too much time on their cellphones. These
findings come amid continuing public concern about the potential effects of social media on children and adolescents. At the same time, most adults (78%) say they believe social media has a mostly positive effect on young people today. Teens themselves have mixed views on this question: 45% say social media has a mostly positive effect, while 24% say its effect is mostly negative. The rest say its effect is neither positive nor negative (27%). When asked about specific platform effects, a
majority of teens who ever use each platform says it has had a mostly positive (52%) or neutral (31%) effect on people their age. Just 15% say each platform has had a mostly negative effect on people their age. Among those who use TikTok, 57% say it has had a positive impact on people their age, while 29% say it has had a neutral impact and 14% say it has had a negative impact. For Snapchat, these numbers are 51%, 32% and 17%, respectively. Facebook fares somewhat worse on this measure: 43% say
it has had a positive impact on people their age, 31% view its impact as neutral and 25% see it as negative.
4.Disney's recent guidance revision for Disney+ subscriber growth has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry. The new 2024 forecast of 215 million to 245 million subscribers is 15 million lower on both the low end and high end than the previous forecast of 230 million to 260 million. While this may seem like
bad news for Disney, the company remains confident that Disney+ will be profitable by 2024. In fact, Disney+ has already exceeded expectations since launching in November 2019, reaching 28.6 million subscribers as of February 2020. With a strong lineup of exclusive content, including original movies and TV shows,Disney+ is well positioned to continue its momentum in the coming years. So despite the lowered subscriber guidance, there is still reason to be optimistic about Disney's streaming
future.
5. When it comes to monetizing your content, there are a few options available to creators. One option is to sign up for a Shopify Collabs account and partner with Shopify merchants. This way, you can curate a list of products to share on social media, and when someone purchases a product using your link, you'll earn a commission. Another option is to use Linkpop, Shopify's link in bio tool. This allows you to share links
to products in your bio, and when someone clicks on the link and purchases the product, you'll earn a commission. The key to success with this method is finding brands that align with your audience. If you can find brands that your audience is interested in, you'll be more likely to make sales. And that's how you can make money as a creator!
6. WhatsApp has long transcended its roots as a simple messaging app for friends, and is now a
core communication tool for businesses seekings a direct channel to their customers’ pockets — both literally and metaphorically. Countless companies have turned to the omnipresent messaging app as they build the very foundation of their business, something that hasn’t gone unnoticed by WhatsApp’s parent company Facebook. In fact, Facebook is so impressed by WhatsApp’s potential as a business platform that it’s planning to introduce a number of new features specifically designed for
commercial use. These include the ability to send automated messages and integration with customer relationship management (CRM) systems. It’s clear that WhatsApp is here to stay as a key player in the world of business, and there’s no doubt that its impact will only continue to grow in the years to come.
7. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have been a hot topic in the world of cryptocurrency for the past few years. And it looks
like their popularity is only going to continue to grow. According to a report from Dazed, the global NFT market size is set to balloon by 680% from $16 billion in 2021 to $122 billion in 2028. The number of NFT owners is projected to grow 533% (to 65 million people) over the same period. Unsurprisingly, consumers are confident in NFTs’ staying power: 80% of NFT owners and the NFT-curious believe NFTs are not just hype, and 92% of the same cohort
believe brands have a role in the NFT space. So it looks like we can expect to see a lot more brands getting involved with NFTs in the near future. Who knows – maybe you’ll even be able to buy your favorite pair of shoes with an NFT someday!
8. The state of New Mexico has proposed changes to its tax policies for digital advertising that could lead to compliance issues for publishers. The Gross Receipts and Compensating Tax Act
covers "Receipts of a Digital Platform That Displays Digital Advertising," meaning it affects publishers. In addition to ad agencies and others in the ecosystem, the act covers publishers. The changes proposed by the state would require publishers to pay tax on the gross receipts from the sale of digital advertising, which would be a compliance burden for many publishers. In addition, the state has proposed changes to the definition of "gross receipts," which could also lead to compliance issues
for publishers. The state is currently accepting comments on the proposed changes, and it remains to be seen how they will ultimately impact publishers.
9.It’s been a tough week for Twilio. First, the company disclosed that it had been hacked after a phishing campaign tricked its employees into revealing their login credentials. Then, TechCrunch published an exclusive report detailing how the hackers were able to access Twilio’s customer
accounts and place calls and send text messages without their knowledge. Now, the company is facing questions from customers and security experts about its security practices. In particular, many are wondering why it took Twilio more than two weeks to detect the breach and why it didn’t disclose the incident sooner. Twilio has responded by saying that it is “working tirelessly” to improve its security practices and that it will provide more details about the breach in the coming days.
In the meantime, the company is encouraging its customers to reset their passwords and enable two-factor authentication for their accounts.
10. Google has confirmed that it has filed two new lawsuits against Sonos, alleging that the speaker company is infringing on seven of Google's patents. The majority of the patents in question relate to hotword detection - the technology that allows smart speakers to wake up and start
listening when they hear a certain word or phrase. This isn't the first time that Google has gone after Sonos for patent infringement. In January of 2019, Google sued Sonos for infringing on five of its patents. That lawsuit is still ongoing. But this latest round of litigation indicates that Google is not backing down from its fight against Sonos. It remains to be seen how this legal battle will play out, but one thing is clear: the fight for control of the smart speaker market is far from
over.
11.Wrigley, the gum and candy company, has recently emerged victorious in a trademark-infringement case against a company that sold cannabis-infused products online labeled “Medicated Skittles” and “Medicated Cannaburst Gummies.” This is one of multiple lawsuits that Wm. Wrigley Junior Co. has filed against companies using brand names that explicitly use Wrigley trademarks or close similarities. In this particular case, the
court found that the cannabis company’s use of the Wrigley trademarks was “likely to cause confusion” and ordered them to stop using the names “Medicated Skittles” and “Medicated Cannaburst Gummies.” The court also ordered the company to pay Wrigley’s legal fees. This is a victory not only for Wrigley, but also for intellectual property rights holders everywhere.