đ Context Collapse: The Weekender 01/26/24
Apple App Store Door Opens, Media Job Doors Close: CC #277
In This Issue: Donât Sell Your Product, Make It Easier To Buy / Havas Agencies Could Be Stripped Of B Corp Certification Due To Shell Account Win / G/O Media Hangs âFor Saleâ Sign Across Its Portfolio / Massive LA Times Layoffs / Bidenâs Media Problem / Comedy Central Officially Out Of Ideas / Apple Plans New Fees and Restrictions for Downloads Outside App Store / Netflixâs Genius WWE Move / 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer / Some Publishers Are Starting To See Revenue Lift From Alternative IDs / Lessons Iâm Learning / As Folks Reel From Journalism Layoffs / CEOs Seeing Their Stock Price.
Welcome to Context Collapse, the worldâs best comms newsletter. Iâm Neal Ungerleider. I run Ungerleider Works and used to work as a reporter for Fast Company, write op-eds for the LA Times, and work as a senior copywriter for R/GA. This newsletter helps readers navigate the weird new world of media and gleefully ignores all the conventional wisdom about journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising.
Each weekend I publish a collection of links and stray ideas I think my readers should know about. They arenât necessarily the best-known pieces of industry news but theyâre the things you should be thinking about. Especially if you want to make more money or have more impact on the culture.
Before we get started, I just wrote the first installment of my guide to what happens after the journalism industry flames out. Given the subject matter, itâs strangely optimisticâcheck it out.
Now on to the links.
Donât Sell Your Product, Make It Easier To Buy: âAs marketers, weâre responsible for growing the business. So your sales team or your CEO pushes back on your organic content strategy: âYes, you can post your cute little posts. But weâve got to track ROI! Weâve got to move product! Weâve got to make money!â
But thatâs not very professional.
Hereâs what Iâd advise you to say instead.â
Havas Agencies Could Be Stripped Of B Corp Certification Due To Shell Account Win: âFour Havas agencies are at risk of losing their B Corp status after the holding company won Shellâs media account last year, B Corpâs certifying body B Lab Global has confirmed to ADWEEK.
The result could have major implications.â
G/O Media Hangs âFor Saleâ Sign Across Its Portfolio: âDigital media company G/O Media is shopping around its portfolio of editorial assets in hopes of securing buyers for individual titles, part of a broader effort to divest the properties ahead of another challenging year for the media industry, according to four people familiar with the efforts.
But no such buyer materialized.â
Massive LA Times Layoffs: âThe Los Angeles Times said it planned to lay off at least 115 employees â more than 20% of the newsroom â starting Tuesday, one of the largest staff cuts in the newspaperâs 143-year history.â
Comedy Central Officially Out Of Ideas: âJon Stewart is returning to âThe Daily Show.â The comedian who transformed Comedy Centralâs satirical news show into a serious force in politics will now serve as a part-time host through this yearâs presidential election cycle and full-time producer through 2025.
Apple Plans New Fees and Restrictions for Downloads Outside App Store: âThe new policies, which will apply only in Europe, set up a major test of the legislation and how it will be enforced as Apple faces challenges from courts, regulators and software-makers globally about its tight control of third-party software.
Netflixâs Genius WWE Move: âNetflix is spending more than $5 billion on a deal thatâll bring WWEâs long-running live show Raw to its platform for an entire decade.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Context Collapse | Neal Ungerleider | Marketing, PR & Media to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.