📅Context Collapse: The Weekender 02/02/24

More journalism layoffs and the New York Times' cash cow = gaming: CC #280

In This Issue: Treat TikTok Like TV / How Gen Z social media managers became the new CMOs / Inside The New York Times’ Big Bet on Games / Jay Rosen On News Industry Problems / 500+ Journalists Laid Off In January Alone / YouTube Celebrates 100 million Subscribers Across Its Music And Premium Tiers / How Affiliate Links Became Everyone’s Low-Lift Side Hustle / I Just Got Laid Off… / The Last Thing I Saw In The Messenger’s Slack… / Hulu Password Sharing Crackdown To Begin This Year / It Doesn’t Really Feel Like The Internet Anymore.

Photo by John Barkiple on Unsplash

Welcome to Context Collapse, the world’s best comms newsletter. I’m 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.

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Each weekend I publish a collection of links and stray ideas I think my readers should know about. They aren’t necessarily the best-known pieces of industry news but they’re 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 and why creators will inherit the media ecosystem. Given the subject matter, it’s strangely optimistic—check it out.

Now on to the links.

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Treat TikTok Like TV: “Any time I talk to someone younger than me, I ask them what they’re watching. And overwhelmingly, they’re only on TikTok/Instagram/YouTube. They’re using them like television. So in a world where these platforms are the new TV, there are incredible evergreen formats out there to create for a new generation of viewers.”

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How Gen Z social media managers became the new CMOs: “Zaria Parvez entered Duolingo’s Pittsburgh headquarters for the first time in September 2021 and spotted a human-size green and orange owl costume slumped on an empty table. Before the pandemic, this mascot had only been trotted out to promote the language learning app at recruitment events. But Parvez had an idea. After writing some scripts and coaxing coworkers into the costume, she created Duo: a cheeky, oversize owl who twerks, taunts the company’s legal team, shames Google Translate users, and pines for the similarly-named Dua Lipa on TikTok.”

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Inside The New York Times’ Big Bet on Games: “Of course, the Times is still competing for White House scoops with its traditional print and digital rivals and dispatching correspondents to war zones. But the company is also vying for people’s attention against every app on their home screen. So it’s developed products in recent years to satisfy the lifestyle needs of its audience: cooking, shopping (via what is now known as Wirecutter, acquired in a 2016 deal worth more than $30 million), sports (via The Athletic, the site it acquired in 2022 for $550 million), and audio, building on the success of The Daily with a slew of podcasts. The products and the journalism coexist under what the Times calls “the bundle,” an offering that has turbocharged the company’s ambitious growth strategy. The bundle starts at $25 a month. The Times surpassed 10 million subscribers in November, with a goal of 15 million by the end of 2027.”

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Jay Rosen On News Industry Problems:

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500+ Journalists Laid Off In January Alone: “More than 500 journalists lost their jobs in January, a sharp increase from the month prior and the latest reminder of the hard financial times that have fallen on the news business.

New data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas found the media industry, which includes television, film, streaming and news, announced 836 job cuts in January, a figure that is up 11 percent from the 754 cuts announced in the same month last year.

A total of 528 layoffs came in the news category alone, which is up 1,660 percent from the 30 layoffs tracked in December. It is the highest monthly total since March 2023 when 532 cuts were recorded, the firm said.”

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YouTube Celebrates 100 million Subscribers Across Its Music And Premium Tiers: “The nine-digit subscriber figure includes Premium and Music buyers who are still in their trial periods. Those services are currently available across more than 100 countries; their availability crossed the 50-country mark back in 2019.

YouTube’s paid subscriptions have changed a lot since Premium was first introduced (as YouTube Red) back in 2015, but they’re consistently attracted new customers, who are eager to remove ads from YouTube and take advantage of other benefits.”

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How Affiliate Links Became Everyone’s Low-Lift Side Hustle: “Affiliate marketing, has long been a staple of the influencer industry, reserved for creators with large followings or relationships with brands. But the proliferation of platforms like TikTok Shop has brought the power of affiliate marketing to the masses, from established digital creators to stay-at-home moms with hardly any social media presence at all. Now, in the words of influencer coach Lissette Calveiro: “If you’re talking about something, you can make affiliate income from it.”

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“I Just Got Laid Off…”

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“The Last Thing I Saw In The Messenger’s Slack…”

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Hulu Password Sharing Crackdown To Begin This Year: “The Disney-owned streaming service on Wednesday sent an email to subscribers notifying them of an updated subscriber agreement, one that explicitly bars sharing accounts outside of the user’s household.

“Unless otherwise permitted by your Service Tier, you may not share your subscription outside of your household,” the change to the agreement stated. “‘Household’ means the collection of devices associated with your primary personal residence that are used by the individuals who reside therein.”

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“It Doesn’t Really Feel Like The Internet Anymore…”

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