The Full Monty: The Future of the News — November 27, 2017
There's a correction going on in the news media, and it's not from a typo; there's hope for jobs amid the robot revolution; smart speakers are the future; the car and heavy trucking industries are in for an upheaval; email matters to youngsters; how to make an innovative culture; Amazon still hasn't supplanted independent bookstores — for good reason; Walmart is thriving in its battle with Amazon; are we ready for the end of the social era?; Twitter changes up the rules; how Amazon could hamper filmmakers; understanding the most engaged podcast listeners; everything you need to know about the looming Net Neutrality battle; Uber's underhanded approach to a massive data breach; tips on data visualization; the fox and the hedgehog; the right leaders for your growth strategies; and more in the Future of the News edition of The Full Monty from Brain+Trust Partners for the week of November 27, 2017.
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Top Stories
Many forces have led to the squeeze that digital media companies now find themselves in: digital publishing failed to diversify properly, the platforms amped up their advertising, Facebook cut back referral traffic, and now we're facing a reckoning in the realistic market valuation of digital media companies. Meanwhile, there's a consolidation going on in the traditional media marketplace as powerful forces begin to concentrate news in fewer hands. The question is what will this mean for local news, advertisers and the public? We should all keep a close watch on this, as society depends on it.
- Meredith agreed to buy Time Inc. for $1.85 billion, at a 46% premium to the stock's closing price on November 15. $650 million of the funding comes from the Koch brothers, who will assume ~$1 billion in Time's debt. Such a move is seen as a significant bet on the future of the magazine industry.
- Meanwhile, the rapid growth of Google and Facebook continues to take its toll on digital media companies:
- Verizon’s Oath, which includes The Huffington Post, AOL, Yahoo, and some ad tech products, is laying off 560 staffers, or 4 percent of its staff.
- BuzzFeed is on track to miss its revenue target this year by 15 to 20 percent, and digital publisher Vice is also set to miss its projections.
- And Mashable was bought by Ziff Davis for $50 million, a quarter of its past valuation.
- Digital media have a difficult task ahead of them, but it's one that must be rooted in reality rather than in fantasy. Media companies don't have the same leeway as Silicon Valley unicorns and their inflated valuations. Journalism is very rarely backed by venture capital and therefore has a much shorter timeframe to prove viable business models.
Artificial Intelligence / Autonomous
The latest in AI, machine learning, bots, and blockchain, mobility, and autonomous everything.ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE / MACHINE LEARNING
- Maybe your kids will want to grow up to be data detectives or man-machine teaming managers. These are just some of the ways human workers are likely to be needed to manage artificial intelligence and automation in the job bonanza ahead under the robot revolution.
- Check out this video of Sophia, an AI robot so lifelike that humans are freaking out.
- Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Google all have variations of the same thing. As they race to improve the AI in each, what does the future hold for smart speakers? In short, expect to see more about security and privacy, proactive status, and true conversations.
AUTONOMOUS / MOBILITY
- Pew Research looked at Americans' attitudes toward four types of automation: healthcare, retail, delivery, and 3-D printing.
- California's DMV website shows that Lyft has secured a permit to test self-driving cars.
- Apple shared research on self-driving car software that has improved obstacle detection. Such as a pedestrian absent-mindedly crossing the street while staring at their iPhone? While Apple is no longer pursuing building a vehicle, the company is still heavily involved in the technology behind autonomous vehicles, as CEO Tim Cook has claimed autonomy to be the biggest AI project.
- Uber will buy up to 24,000 SUVs equipped with autonomous technology from Volvo from 2019 to 2021. Uber will add its own self-driving technology.
- New technologies are coming to trucking, and truckers are nowhere near prepared. With a limit of 11 hours per day behind the wheel, truckers won’t be able to compete with autonomous trucks.
- You probably heard about Tesla's electric Semi truck (not to be confused with a semi-electric truck). First orders are in from Walmart, J.B. Hunt, Meijer and Loblaw.
- Expect consumer technology to influence car buying in the near future. From one-click ordering to voice assistants, the mobile device we carry in our pockets creates expectations of what we'll want to see in the experience with the mobile device in our garage.
- One of the most vulnerable businesses in that lineup is car dealers. Never widely trusted by the public, they could be supplanted by technology and changing ownership models, perhaps rendering them more fleet managers than anything else.
Communications / Marketing / Business Strategy
COMMUNICATiONS / MARKETING / STRATEGY
- New research from the Interactive Advertising Bureau found that people are more likely to talk about the products or brands they see—and even change someone’s mind about them—while co-viewing on over-the-top (OTT) devices than on linear TV.
- When it comes to email use among generations, almost half (48%) of Gen Z respondents (ages 13-21) believe their email usage will increase in the coming years. Either they know something we don't, or we've buried our heads in Millennial panic mode for too long. Or both!
- Marketers are bullish about video. In “The State of Video Marketing 2017” study by Demand Metric and Vidyard, companies reported using video across a wide variety of sites: their websites, social channels, YouTube and even within email, and 7 out of 10 report that video converts better than other content formats.
- No doubt, you've been involved with or know about an innovation center within a brand. And while we hear about innovation constantly, what does it take to create the innovative organization of the future?
- Be obsessed with people and anticipate their patterns
- Offer frictionless experiences that are seamless (one point of connection)
- Give choices
- Let people and brands tell their stories
Retail Apocalypse
Humans are a transactional species, and the practice — if not the very notion of what retail is — is undergoing a historical metamorphosis.- While pressure from Amazon forced Borders out of business in 2011, indie bookstores staged an unexpected comeback in spite of Amazon. Between 2009 and 2015, the ABA reported a 35 percent growth in the number of independent booksellers, from 1,651 stores to 2,227. In short, it's because of community, curation and the convening of like-minded customers. Support your local independent bookshop.
- According to Walmart's CEO, the employee of the future will be focused more on customer service and much less on tasks like searching for a product in the stock room. (Disclosure: Walmart is a Brain+Trust client.)
- Many retailers are in a world of pain because of Amazon. Walmart is not one of them.
- To all retailers, the biggest conundrum is "the last mile" — that is, how the product finally reaches the customer. Amazon Flex workers, who are self-employed last-mile delivery drivers, describe the job and how the Uber-like Flex app coordinates deliveries in Amazon's Last Mile.
- Meanwhile, Amazon continues to blame the US Postal Service for its grocery delivery failures.
- Walmart.com will be selling Lord & Taylor merchandise. Both companies are looking to reinvent themselves in a retail environment increasingly impacted by the rise of Amazon. For Lord & Taylor, the company simply needs to attract new customers online as department store sales plateau.
- Want to see the future of retail? It's personified in the smarts of this Girl Scout in Brooklyn who sold the most cookies. Over 1,500 boxes!
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Platforms
News to know about relevant social, virtual, and augmented reality platforms that may affect your business.- To some, it seems increasingly likely that our society will one day view our infatuation with Twitter, Facebook, and the like as a passing, often destructive fad. Why the End of the Social Era Can't Come Soon Enough.
- Part of the danger of over-reliance on social media is how fiction quickly becomes fact, which in turn feeds into actual fake news (not the kind where if you don't like it, you deem it fake). And by then, even Facebook's fact checkers are powerless to stop it.
TWITTER / PERISCOPE
- Twitter is stepping up its efforts against violence and harassment, banning users with ties to violent groups, whether online or offline and determining that users can now have verified status revoked under new guidelines for verified accounts. The company is working on a revised authentication and verification program.
- Twitter's data business is growing, so the company is trying to capitalize on that, selling a less expensive version of its enterprise product.
FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / WHATSAPP
- Facebook released a new Creator app, designed to attract more YouTubers by making it easier to create and share video content.
- Facebook has expanded its AR advertising program to 700 agencies and brands. Expect to see AR get a boost in the next 6-12 months, largely driven by Facebook.
- Even though it's a Facebook property, Instagram's CEO is positioning the company as a safer alternative to its rivals that are currently under scrutiny.
- Don't look now, but Instagram could let users follow hashtags soon. #copycat #whattookyousonlong
ALPHABET / GOOGLE
- Google introduced new views in Maps for driving, navigation, and transit to better highlight relevant information, new colors and icons for places of interest.
- YouTube is partnering with Ticketmaster to sell concert tickets on artists' video pages in the US. Makes perfect sense to have a demonstrable and seamless call to action while attention is on the product.
SNAP
- From algorithmic feeds to partnerships to target markets to recruiting adults, Snap is planning a 180-degree turn across the board. Will it be enough to save the company? Stay tuned.
- Snapchat has launched a new ad unit called Audience Filters, which can be purchased via its self-serve platform. The format is essentially the same as Sponsored Geofilters, but it is targeted primarily based on audiences instead of locations.
- You've gotten your fair share of LinkedIn connection requests that have no context behind them, right? Well, here are the actual reasons I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
- Related: there are only three universal New Yorker cartoon captions.
Media
The latest in the world of streaming video, audio, and the advertising, pricing and bundling models related to them.VIDEO
- Netflix found 67 percent of Americans now watch Netflix in public and 37 percent at work — including 12 percent in public restrooms. Umm, eww.
- Since it has so many of tentacles into various portions of the entertainment vertical, Amazon could make it a nightmare for future filmmakers. Example: sell your book on Amazon? Then Amazon could claim first right of refusal for options to the film version.
- Bloomberg's new Twitter network will launch on December 18; it will be the first 24-hour social news network on Twitter.
AUDIO
- There's a curious group of people who listen to podcasts at super-fast speed. Life at the speed of sound. Or is that life at the sound of speed?
- Pandora's new CEO wants more podcasts and would like to revamp the audio streaming giant's advertising technology to stem the loss of younger listeners.
- Spotify announced it has acquired Soundtrap, a collaborative online music recording startup, reportedly for at least $30 million. Such a move could make it more attractive as a destination for music creators.
- The Knight Foundation released a report on Public Media's Most Engaged Podcast Users. Super listeners consume twice the amount of podcast content compared to generic listeners. They are loyal evangelists of the medium. The report notes that 96% of surveyed super listeners had recommended a podcast to a friend. These listeners prefer in-depth content, and increasingly prefer digital consumption over podcast.
- Program of the Week: And as our recommendation this week, we have The Most Useful Podcast Ever, a podcast for getting things done. Thanks to Jessica Willits for the suggestion. Do you have a program to recommend? Add yours to our Google Sheet: smonty.co/yourpodcasts.
Regulatory / Security
Business disruptions in the legal, regulatory, and computer security fields, from hacking to the on-demand economy and more.SECURITY / HACKING
- As you've probably heard, the FCC is voting in December to repeal Net Neutrality rules that require all Internet service providers to operate on an even playing field.
- There's been plenty of time for public comments about the position, and analysis of comments on the FCC site found over 1 million pro-repeal comments were likely faked, while 99% of organic comments were in favor of keeping rules.
- Here's just what's at stake regarding Net Neutrality.
- What can you do to save Net Neutrality? Take action with one click.
- Morale has plunged, and experienced specialists are leaving the agency for better-paying jobs — including with firms defending computer networks from intrusions that use the NSA's leaked tools. A massive security breach and spilled secrets have shaken the NSA to its core. If our National Security Agency isn't safe, who is?
- Is AI the answer to outsmarting cybercriminals and keeping your business safe? Until the cybercriminals start using AI...
ON-DEMAND ECONOMY
- Uber experienced a massive data breach over a year ago and covered it up. It has since fired its chief security officer, saying that the October of 2016 loss of personal information included data of some 50 million riders and 7 million drivers—including 600,000 driver's license numbers. The company paid hackers $100,000 to delete those data.
- The mayor of San Francisco has asked Uber and Lyft to start testing passenger pick-up zones.
Measurement / Analytics / Data
The future is not in plastics, but in data. Those who know how to measure and analyze it will rule the world.- When data is visualized effectively, it can make a difference in how you convey a story. Here are 15 stunning data visualizations and what you can learn from them.
- Additional tips for using data visualization, including why you shouldn't use pie charts. Go figure. A post-Thanksgiving pie reference.
- Google's chatbot cloud analytics service Chatbase has launched to offer tools to more easily analyze and optimize chatbots.
- The social media analytics market is expected to reach $9.5 billion by 2022. That's a 28.6% compound growth rate.
- Ten predictions for AI, data and analytics in 2018 range from more conversational interfaces for enterprises to deployment of AI for real-time decision making to more flow between structured and unstructured data.
Mental Nourishment
Other links to help you reflect, improve, or simply learn something new.- These are the 6 laws of technology that everyone should know.
- Should we become specialists or polymaths? Is there a balance we should pursue? If you can't adapt, changes become threats instead of opportunities. Perhaps the answer is being a generalizing specialist, like Shakespeare, Da Vinci or Kepler. "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." - Archilochus
- Nobody knows what you're doing. Surprising, right? Well, even in this age when we're all digital voyeurs, we need to embrace digital exhibitionism if we hope to have people understand what we're up to and why.
- An ex-Google employee hopes to make a string of tech hubs across rural America. "The goal ... is to encourage more entrepreneurship in rural towns, and make more opportunities for remote work available to job seekers located there."
- Do you have the right leaders for your growth strategies? It takes a mix of leaders and talent to pursue a variety of growth strategies simultaneously, and few executives can do it all. It turns out that those who bring market insight and focus on customer impact are among the most effective. Speaking of which, what about Brain+Trust Partners?
- The three traits that Warren Buffet looks for in a person: intelligence, energy, and integrity.
- If you're interested in the forces that are competing for your attention and dollars, you can't do much better than Scott Galloway's The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. (Affiliate link)
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Upcoming Brain+Trust Speaking Engagements
- Variety INNOVATE in Beverly Hills November 28, 2017 (Tim)
- SocialFresh in Orlando December 8-9, 2017 (Christopher and Tim)
Can we speak for your organization? Drop us a line.
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