Big Things Podcast
A weekly show where we talk about the big things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports. We also talk through signals we’re seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing.
You can catch the podcast every Friday wherever you listen or watch it on YouTube. Be sure to follow us on Instagram or TikTok for updates on every episode.
Big Things Podcast
Netflix vs. Everyone (E17)
What a week: The Grammys delivered, Super Bowl campaigns are gearing up, and the White House is inviting “new media” (content creators) to press briefings. Meanwhile, Netflix is coming for everyone. Let’s get into it.
More from us:
- Mitzi Payne @mmmitzi
- Mike Payne @mmmiiike
Timestamps:
- 00:30 – This past weekend the Grammys happened and there were some amazing, well deserved wins.
- 07:30 – Some of our favorite performances from the Grammys.
- 10:00 – Was this shade against Drake?
- 14:00 – Super Bowl predictions and stories we’re following.
- 19:20 – The White House is inviting “new media” (aka content creators) to ask questions during press briefings.
- 25:00 – Media literacy, independent journalism and sourcing content from outside of your algorithm.
- 31:00 – Netflix is coming for… Everything. Everyone.
- 34:40 – What would pull us further into Netflix.
Show notes:
The SCAN 👀 CLUB 2025 Trend Report: https://scanclub.substack.com/p/what-digital-audiences-want-in-2025
Big Things with Mitzi (@mmmitzi) and Mike (@mmmiiike).
For more from Arcade, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @helloarcade. https://www.arcadearcade.ca/
Production by Morgan Berna, editing by Oliver Banyard.
Okay, welcome to Big Things. I'm Mitzi. This is Mike.
Speaker 2:And this is our show where we talk about the big things we're watching in marketing, social media, pop culture and sports. We also talk through the signals that we're seeing that could inform the future of digital marketing.
Speaker 1:That was a deliberate pause. I liked it. Okay, today. Here's a quick summary of what we're talking about. We're talking about Grammys, we're talking about the White House and we're talking about Netflix.
Speaker 2:Sounds fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's do it.
Speaker 2:Let's start with the best one the Grammys oh yes, I got a lot to say about this. I know you're ready to go one the grammy.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, I got a lot to say about this. So, big news of the day beyonce finally won album of the year at last night's grammys. She had the beehive buzzing, including me, when she was finally awarded the most coveted accolade that the grammys can give out, which is album of the year. Um, in case you need a reminder, she is the highest, most awarded Grammy award winning artist, with 35 Grammys to her name in so many categories. But last night she won the one category she's never won before, which is Album of the Year. If you remember, she's lost that category four times.
Speaker 2:I do remember.
Speaker 1:You do remember.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we talk about it every time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she also made history last night by becoming the first black artist to ever win for Best Country Album, which was really cool.
Speaker 2:That was cool. I feel like that should not get overshadowed by the Album of the Year Totally. Even she was shocked.
Speaker 1:She was very shocked and that was the most memorable moment of the night is like her reaction to winning Best Country Album.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:She was not expecting it at all and we love to see it.
Speaker 2:I thought it was cool that she brought up Blue Ivy with her for the album of the year as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Blue's been her buddy. She's been going everywhere with her, which is so cool.
Speaker 2:So I really want to make sure. I ask you what does this mean to you?
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't know. I don't know how to even answer.
Speaker 2:Clustered all of a sudden.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, no, I mean obviously like Beyonce is like such a big artist and like she's been very she's very well recognized. Obviously she's like a global superstar. It's not like she needs this award, but it just felt like it's the one award she hasn't received. And the cool thing about this album is like she's talked about not getting album of the year before and that she goes like straight back into making music. So it feels like it's something that she's she's felt the like pain of not being recognized and it's funny because she also doesn't need it. But yeah, she went back to the drawing board, came out with this album and she's won it.
Speaker 1:And it's interesting too, because I think in years past, when she hasn't won it for other albums, like Lemonade, Lemonade was like a big upset because everyone thought like she deserved it for Lemonade and she should have won it. But Adele won it instead and when Adele was accepting her reward, she said in a very like viral moment that she felt like Beyonce should have gotten this award. And she said it on stage like you're the artist of my life, like you deserve this award. And Adele won it. And then, since you know, a few years have passed, um, jay-z was awarded, I think, last year, the Lifetime Achievement Award, equivalent of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Grammys, and he very publicly also said in his award speech that he felt like Beyonce deserved album of the year and she, even though she's the most awarded artist by the Grammy, so even by their standards she should have received it. You know, know, so it's been very like publicly talked about that she should have received that award, and so to see her get it.
Speaker 1:The other interesting thing about last night is that it's the first time that, as these people, like presenters, are presenting the award, they'd say, based on the 13 000000 Grammy voters, the winner goes to. And they're very like intentional about stating that, because in the past, the Grammys has also admitted that their governing body, or like people who voted for the awards, was skewing male and skewing white, was skewing male and skewing white, and so people started to say like, okay, you need to like diversify this pool of people who are choosing who wins these Grammys, and so they've committed to adding, I think, 2,000 diverse members to their group, which they did, and that's why they're saying like according to the 13,000 voters, this is the person who won.
Speaker 2:Who gets to be a voter?
Speaker 1:I don't know.
Speaker 2:They like invite, it's like invite only kind of situation.
Speaker 1:I think, so I think they Industry people. It's not like people's choice awards, it's like they invite people Same with like I'm sure it's like. What are they called? Like the guilds you have to like be a member or whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something like that interesting so I think I don't know, there's so many layers to it too, because, like, there's so many albums that she's like gifted to the world and like for her to finally get that recognition for like, and she's so passionate about completing a body of work, like she's really intentional about creating a full album and not just like a collection of singles. It all layers into like one experience like that's what she did with Lemonade, that's what she did with the Renaissance album.
Speaker 2:So it's so exciting to see that she's like finally got that last kind of like checkbox so do you think, now that she's got that last kind of thing that had eluded her, do you feel like she might call it a day soon? Or do you think there's more and more projects coming?
Speaker 1:well, renaissance is a collection of three albums. So she has the first one, um, which was like the electric kind of like house music one, and then she has cowboy carter, and then she has renaissance 3 coming out, which everyone thinks is going to be like a rock album, um. So I don't know, maybe we can only hope she has more music coming out after that. But honestly she doesn't need to like that's the thing she's. She's done everything she's kind of set out to do because jay-z's kind of done pretty music right.
Speaker 2:Yeah yeah, he's obviously older than her.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe she's done, but I don't know. I know at least we have one more album coming, yeah, so that's cool.
Speaker 2:And we've got the tour for Cowboy Carter.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but did you see she released her dates.
Speaker 2:No, I didn't.
Speaker 1:Canada's not on the list at all. It's only like gosh darn calgary stampede. No, it's only like new york, la dc houston, london, paris like the big ones maybe it's finally our time to go to new york together I don't know, the dollar is gonna really kill us it does.
Speaker 1:It does hurt, for sure, but anyways, I've kind of like accepted this might be when I skip, which is really sad. I can't talk about it. But yeah, I'm so happy. I'm so happy that Beyonce won. It's like really everything that happened at the Grammys last night is like everything we wanted to happen, like. The other winners of the night include Kendrick Lamar, who won for best for record of the year and song of the year and best rap song and best performance. Chapel Roan won for best new artist, sabrina Carpenter won for best pop solo performance and best pop vocal album. Charli XCX won for best dance pop recording and best dance album. And Dochi won for best rap album of the year, which was cool to see.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she was going viral for even for her performance, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I had never seen her performances before, like I've seen some clips on TikTok, so I didn't really know her. But I watched her performance and I was blown away. She was so cool yeah she's like artists who are like real artists, like are so fun to watch. Same with Chapel Road. Her performance of Pink Pony Club was so good. I'm so happy for her yeah, love it.
Speaker 2:yeah, so the people that are actually like making our heads bop yeah.
Speaker 1:Sabrina Carpenter's performance is also really, really cool. Charlie XCX performance was a little too cool for me. She just makes me feel like a grandma.
Speaker 2:Like you feel like you're getting aged out kind of.
Speaker 1:Oh, for sure. And I'm okay with it, like aged out, kind of, oh for sure, that's, I'm okay with it, like do your thing, I love to see it. But yeah, I felt like you like clubs aren't for me. Like what if this is what happens at clubs?
Speaker 2:like, count me out even now, when I speak like tiktok lingo, I feel like I'm trying too hard yeah, I'm aged out of her demo, but it's fine like I'm happy for her.
Speaker 1:Um did. I don't know if you know who Benson Boom is, but he performed.
Speaker 2:I saw some stuff about him on TikTok.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I never knew. Like I've heard that song so many times. It's like in my like the back of my brain and I when it plays somewhere, I know it, but I didn't know like that was him and his performance was super cool. He did like a backflip.
Speaker 2:He had a crazy outfit on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but he started with like a black and white, like penguin tuxedo.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And then he had, like Heidi Klum and some other chick rip it off, and then he like had this blue like number and did a backflip off of a piano or something.
Speaker 2:You think he's pretty legit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he seemed awesome.
Speaker 2:I saw on Excel a ton of people just being like he just wants to be Harry Styles so bad.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't really have an opinion. Who wouldn't?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess, but yeah.
Speaker 1:I liked, I liked all. All in all, the Grammys were so good last night and I feel like I absorbed a lot, like I absorbed all of this through TikTok.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 1:I wish I had watched the actual awards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's hard Unless you have cable like there's not really a great way to watch the awards.
Speaker 1:I know that's the one thing that's missing in there Like life.
Speaker 2:I guess we'll get into that with our other story soon.
Speaker 1:Totally.
Speaker 2:I noticed that when Kendrick Lamar accepted his Grammy, he was wearing a Canadian tuxedo, which I felt like was a special kind of petty towards Drake.
Speaker 1:Oh really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure it was intentional.
Speaker 1:Oh, because it's Canadian and it was a diss track towards Drake. Right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but the best part I think connected to Kendrick and not like us is DJ Mustard, who also accepted the awards with him and I think record of the year is specifically more for the production, so that was more specifically Mustard's award. But um him with Hines announced a collaboration at during the ceremony on a new Mustard which I thought was pretty funny.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you sent me that. I didn't quite understand it. So DJ Mustard is the guy who produced the song.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he works a lot with Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then they announced a collab with Hines.
Speaker 2:Mustard did. Okay. Yeah, I'm sure it's because of all the exposure around the tracks that he's put out recently with Kendrick Lamar, because of the beef that happened.
Speaker 1:Yeah, also for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, so I think it's good timing, but it's also fun because, like Heinz doesn't really do this kind of thing and it was also mixed by mustard himself, they say. But it marks the first time that Heinz has ever co-created a new sauce in the US and it's also the first new Heinz mustard offering in almost 10 years.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, what a blessing to us.
Speaker 2:What a blessing.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Well, I'm happy for him. I'm happy to see more of him, too, because he's going to be performing at the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2:Well, mustard won't be but Kendrick Lamar Kendrick.
Speaker 1:Lamar, Kendrick Lamar. Yeah, In my mind they're like one in the same, but you're right, they're different. Right, He'll probably be there though.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah. I'm sure He'll be there with the posse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sza also won a Grammy last night. I can't remember exactly what category, but it was something in the R&B realm, so that's cool. And she's also performing with Kendrick Lamar at the.
Speaker 2:Super Bowl. I wonder who else is. I feel like we talked about this before, but I kind of hope that he brings Lil Wayne.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't know if Lil Wayne will do it.
Speaker 2:You don't think so.
Speaker 1:He was so sad that he didn't get picked.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but wouldn't this rectify that Totally, or do you think he needs to be the headliner?
Speaker 1:It would make no sense for him to be the headliner no sense for him to be the headliner.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I hope he ends up being there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited to see SZA. I like her, I like all that she's doing right now and she's going on tour with Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:I wonder if we should go see them. Would you ever?
Speaker 2:Yeah, would they come to Canada?
Speaker 1:I think their dates are out there, so we should go check.
Speaker 2:Interesting, so we should go check Interesting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all in all, what a great night. The Grammy Awards were so fun to watch.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:From TikTok.
Speaker 2:From TikTok. I'm glad you got TikTok again.
Speaker 1:I loved yeah, I'm back on TikTok. I joined it back. I went back because it was getting banned, so I wanted to see, like, what is the temperature in the room on, like the last night of TikTok, which is really sad, and then I opened it up the next day and everyone was back and people were like is this thing on? So I've had it ever since then.
Speaker 2:Nice, so I'm back in TikTok.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2:Just in time for the Grammys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I might turn it off again, but it's been fun to watch, like all the Grammy stuff on TikTok. I like being part of like what's happening right now.
Speaker 2:When there's like positive, exciting things happening, TikTok's a fun place to be. It's like when that stuff's not happening and all there is to talk about is, like the crazy stuff that's happening around the world, then it gets a little bit dark and ominous.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a lot of like my TikTok algorithm. It's like Beyonce accepting her Grammy, what it means, people reacting to Beyonce getting album of the year, and then it's like a think piece on like tariffs and like the trade war and like immigration.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Totally so. It's like a little it's getting there. It's getting a little dark for me, but I'm going to ride it out for a little bit more.
Speaker 2:Well, we got the Super Bowl coming up this weekend, so I'm sure there'll be lots of sports content and wags and stuff like that, and obviously, music with Kendrick Lamar. I'm excited about it. One fun piece of news Saquon Barkley, who's the star running back of the Philadelphia Eagles, who are playing the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl this weekend, he just got engaged to his girlfriend, and so I think that just kind of sets up some good vibes for the team ahead of the big competition.
Speaker 1:Yeah, excited to see it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure Jason Kelsey will be there as a commentator. I feel like it's got to be tough for him just having retired just last year to see his team there and wish he was part of it.
Speaker 1:He said he's cheering for the Eagles. Yeah, and Travis specifically, not Kansas City, just Travis.
Speaker 2:I think their kids are wearing stuff like shirts for their uncle trav oh really, but mom and dad are cheering yeah, uncle, mom and dad are cheering for the eagles one thing I love about kylie, which is jason kelsey's wife.
Speaker 1:she's like a diehard eagles fan and even when she's going to see, like a kansas game last year, she'd be like in the suite with Taylor and like her mom and Taylor's family, like all the Kansas City people, she still will not wear any Kansas City merch. She refuses because she is an Eagles fan by blood.
Speaker 2:And I love that.
Speaker 1:Like I love, like a strong willed woman.
Speaker 2:She has her values and she sticks to them. Yeah, yeah, like she would not do wrong by philadelphia, it's true go off, so she'll be wearing eagle stuff yeah, yeah. What's your prediction? Who's gonna win?
Speaker 1:I would like to see the eagles win, but I think kansas city will win and I also don't. I feel like it's not an interesting game, like we've been here before. It's like.
Speaker 2:I actually agree Like this is the Super Bowl I've been least excited for in my memory.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have no like pent up energy for it, I'm just going to like be so passive watching it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm even to the point where I actually was considering cheering for the Chiefs, which I just like. I've been so sick of the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes and the fact that they don't even look good, but they continue to win. Yeah, but I think I like the story.
Speaker 2:I like them making history getting the three-peat and I also really like Andy Reid, the head coach, and I really like travis big red and I think travis kelsey is getting towards the end of his career, so I feel like getting that third one under his belt would just be really meaningful, and then he can just ride off into the sunset with taylor yeah, I hope he like okay, say if he wins cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like that's fun, retire, go all into broadcasting. We've been listening to New Heights. They're funny.
Speaker 2:They are. They're funny together too, yeah.
Speaker 1:I enjoy listening to them. I like the energy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So I'd be happy, and very happy, to see him win, then retire, go into broadcasting and then shake up the league.
Speaker 2:What if he doesn't go into broadcasting but just becomes one of Taylor's backup dancers, as like his full time career?
Speaker 1:Obviously he won't do that?
Speaker 2:What if he does?
Speaker 1:No, I've heard he's getting into acting too, which?
Speaker 2:I'm happy to see, too, he's becoming a performer.
Speaker 1:He's not going to be a dancer? Obviously not.
Speaker 2:Why not?
Speaker 1:Because like.
Speaker 2:He can become an actor, but not a dancer.
Speaker 1:No, he's got better things to do. He can be like. He make way more money he's got.
Speaker 2:there's so many better things he could do, but he's just such a Taylor fan that he would just love to be with her on tour and just support her.
Speaker 1:He can just be her husband and like pursue other projects All right, I thought you'd be way more stoked about that.
Speaker 2:No, it's not, c'est la vie.
Speaker 1:Anyways, we'll watch the Super Bowl and then hopefully next year, like they need to shake up the leagues or something, so it's not like the same teams every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we need some big trades in the offseason.
Speaker 1:There's like trades happening left, right and center. You know it's crazy.
Speaker 2:In the NBA, there is no in the NFL.
Speaker 1:I feel like all the coaches have been like swapped around, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Coaches are. That's the hiring cycle for coaches, but there's no big trades that have been happening.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the funny thing about the coaches is, like I'll see an Instagram post of, like this coach going to this team and they do the thing where, like, they have the same head and then, like, use AI to like swap the jerseys out, I'll recognize the face, and then it's confusing, like, why is he wearing that? Because it doesn't like I know, doesn't he normally wear blue, but he's wearing black. Kind of misses me up.
Speaker 2:I felt the same with the big NBA trade that just happened between with between the Dallas Mavericks and the LA Lakers like seeing Luka Doncic in Lakers gear was so weird and then Anthony Davis in Mavericks.
Speaker 1:I've seen so many posts about that and I'm like deliberately just like scrolling past it because I'm not that interested in NBA.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not even that big of an NBA fan, but that's got to be like the most noteworthy trade that I can think of ever. Ever. Yeah, like those are like crazy franchise players and Luke is only 25, I think so he was just. He was just about to sign another super max deal. That would have been like $345 million $345 million yeah. That's like a player that you draft and pay kajillions of dollars to over 15 years and they like retire with your Jersey. Like is unheard of to trade a player like that Crazy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was wondering why there's so many so much content about it. Yeah, it's nuts not into it, but cool, good for him should we go on the thing too?
Speaker 2:let's do it a bit of a change of uh vibe here, but the White House is inviting new media and independent journalists into press briefings, including podcasters and influencers. So, basically, the White House rolled out a new policy allowing opportunities for so-called new media outlets and individuals, including content creators, to ask questions during press briefings. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt announced the move during her first briefing on Tuesday, saying President Trump is ready to retool the administration around the new media landscape, as they called it. They said we welcome independent journalists, podcasters and social media influencers. Since the announcement, they've received over 10,000 applications. I want to hear from you, as someone who studied journalism and was an intern in the 2008 election when Obama was elected, I want to get your take on.
Speaker 1:What does this mean in the 2008 election, when obama was elected.
Speaker 2:Wow, you're really. I want to get your take on. What does this mean in the media landscape and even just for politics and reporting in general?
Speaker 1:you've set me up for such like a, an insightful take, but I don't really have like a hot take.
Speaker 1:I just think, as a podcaster, it's cool to see it, um, but I don't know. I think I think we've been seeing like a pattern about like new media for a while. Like podcasts played such a huge role in this election cycle, a lot of people think that like podcasters is which like tipped the scales in terms of like who turned up to actually vote, and they people are saying like, they called it like the podcast election because it was so influential. So I feel like we've been seeing some of the symptoms of this. I love to see new media being adopted a bit more and that's not a slight to legacy media at all, because I believe in like the, the practice of like journalism and how important it is to democracy of like journalism and how important it is to democracy. But it feels like it's not a surprise to see this new administration adopt new media because they're also like, so against legacy media. So that's not surprising. But I'm also seeing, and just in general, like, more and more journalists adopt new media strategies and also like independent journalists becoming more and more journalists adopt new media strategies and also like independent journalists becoming more and more popular. So, for example, jessica Reed Crouch. Her, like Instagram is house and habit.
Speaker 1:I've been following her for so long when she was like a mommy blogger, um, and that's what she calls herself, by the way. I'm not like diminishing her in any means, but yeah, but she was an influencer turned independent journalist and she has her own paid sub stack, um, and she's it's interesting because she's someone who has been following the election and she's like up front about her biases and so people who subscribe to her and pay for her substract are getting that lens in her content. So for her, um, there's like so many benefits here. One, she can be upfront with her biases and she can also she doesn't have to answer to the perceived or actual biases of new, of legacy media. So people like love to see like someone who's just in in courtrooms on her own, not representing any kind of like entity, but of course, like, and people who like understand or like believe in journalism, like there has to be checks and balances for all of those things. There should be an editor, there should be, you know, like practices for that.
Speaker 1:But on the other side of the coin, too, I'm seeing other like journalists move to sub stack. So it's like Taylor Lorenz, for example. She was at the New York Times and Washington Post. She's now an independent creator journalist. And then Hunter Harris, who was previously at new york magazine and vulture. He's also got his own sub stack that's also paid and is also an independent journalist. So I just feel like like media is just such a tough, like like a model, like an, a model to sustain, like like financially. So it makes sense. All these like talented journalists are like exploring their own independent means, like sub stack exists, like they might as well just do it for themselves and work with legacy media as like a contract or whatever. So it makes sense to me that like this is just the wave that's happening. So, whether it's Donald Trump or whoever else is in his administration, it's about time some of these independent journalists and podcasters and creators are invited into those rooms.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that all makes sense. I feel like there's an obvious level of mistrust in legacy media these days, and part of that is because of politicians these days and part of that is because of politicians. But also, I think there's been evidence of bias in the media as well, which we all know, and I think, if nothing else, the presence of independent journalists and content creators and podcasters and these types of people that are now getting invited and whatever narrative that they're communicating to their audience, and even just how they're translating the information they hear at these press briefings. I think that's just good in terms of accountability for the group at large, because I think what we, what people, start to notice as there's more voices and more differing opinions or interpretations of information, is that, well, what we begin to notice is the difference you know, when there's a dissonance.
Speaker 2:I think when those independent journalists or just creators in general aren't present or don't have access to the information to then distill to their listeners, then all we have is kind of the legacy or the mainstream media, and then it's up to them if they want to create a narrative that whether it's true or not, and no one can really notice because there's no one else saying anything else.
Speaker 2:So I feel like I don't think that independent journalists are necessarily better than the media entities that exist right now, but I think there's just going to be a little bit more accountability and transparency because of more like diverse voices for lack of a better term interpreting the information that's available in those briefings.
Speaker 1:Right, it's good for the general public to have more voices.
Speaker 2:For sure. Than just like legacy media, and it's important for the public to to have more voices, for sure Than just like legacy media, and it's important for the public to just have that information in general and we all are adults here, like we all know that anyone reporting anything, whether they're independent or part of a huge media entity, they're presenting information through their bias, like that's just part of reality.
Speaker 1:Bias exists, whether you have the institutional like structure to eliminate it or not exactly right.
Speaker 1:I think what I'd love to see, with more of this happening, is, like I think there needs to be more um media literacy, like more understanding and knowing like there is a bias that exists with all content that you consume, so like how do you spot it? And like learning and training people to like evaluate headlines a little deeper and read things like. I just find, when I deleted TikTok, I lost so much of my news coverage because, like I'm not on x threads is like they don't talk about politics or news at all. There is just like all like YouTube tips, um, and then Instagram doesn't have news. So I felt like I had to like start to source my own like news kind of like content plate.
Speaker 1:And when you do that, you decide, okay, this is the publication I'm going to listen to in the form of a podcast, and this is a publication I'm going to subscribe to in form of like a newsletter and all these things. So you have to kind of like decide and make sure that you're getting all the like the a well-rounded like bias pool, because there it all exists, like in the headlines and the titles. It's like it's everywhere. It's so interesting, but I feel like people don't really like seek that out. Like I think they don't. They take what they're given and then decide it's fact, and oftentimes it's half baked or it's just a snippet, or if it's just a clip or whatever. So I just feel like more media literacy is important and like and I don't think they teach that in schools, but like I don't know what's another way to like teach people that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think to your point. One really important thing is for people to read or listen to sources that don't share their bias.
Speaker 1:But everyone shares a bias. But has a different bias mean oh yeah, they like listen if you're typically conservative leaning.
Speaker 2:It's actually healthy for you to consume content from liberal sources you know, and vice versa, because I think that just forces you to be more of a critical thinker yeah, and I think that, overall, that's what's going to happen here, as we have more different sources, and independent as well as mainstream and things like that, and even some of these you know, like some of these podcasters that played a part in the election cycle were comedians, like they're not even journalists. They're not even trying to necessarily share political content, but suddenly they were a platform.
Speaker 1:and that's so interesting too, because they're almost just like average people yeah, it's like we need to go to original sources and the only way to get original source at least in this, in this like presidency is to be in the press press room right? Um, it's funny. It reminds me of like the Justin Baldoni and like Blake Lively saga, like their legal battle right now, because it feels like almost like you're you read about one person's experience of an incident and then you read about the other person's experience in the same incident, so you're understanding the incident from two different biases and for this, one like this is a bad example because it's like incredibly confusing. But then you're kind of just like letting people decide like who is right and make your own decisions based on all the information you have. That's kind of like where we're at in the news cycle or media at least. Like take in in the news cycle or media at least.
Speaker 2:Like take in from all sides and then decide but that takes a lot of work and a lot of energy and it's it's obviously a different dynamic than it used to be because, like, the public has a platform as well yeah we all have a platform on social media so you can feel the swing from one side to the other, like take the justin baldoni and blake lively thing, for example.
Speaker 2:As new information gets released from one side or the other, you can feel the swing of the public's perception and support because they also have the platforms that these journalists have as well, yeah, it also reminds you of that show we're watching, the Diplomat, where it's like you only see at least in politics, you only see one side of the world.
Speaker 1:You know the public only sees one side of what's going on, of conversations or diplomacy or like intentions, like there's just so much going on that it's hard to know what is what is like the truth of what's happening?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's always levers being pulled and cards being played. Shout out to the diplomat. We binged those two seasons too quick.
Speaker 1:It was so good yeah it was good it was one of my favorite shows I've seen all year.
Speaker 2:Nice, all right.
Speaker 1:Okay, that was a fun.
Speaker 2:Little rabbit trail little rabbit trail.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's jump into thing three. All right, Netflix is coming for your entire entertainment budget. According to the latest earnings report, Netflix is having a great year and they plan to expand their offerings. Their stock surged 90% over the last year. These are your notes, by the way. Do you want to read it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I added a few stats and numbers in here just because all it was was about pricing and I was like we got to talk more about other stuff too?
Speaker 1:Do you want to talk about it?
Speaker 2:Yes, Stock surged 90% over the last year as they and others recovered from things like the SAG-AFTRA strike and also just the resurgence not resurgence, but the introduction of other players into the market over the last few years, like Disney getting in, Amazon getting in.
Speaker 2:Paramount Plus, stuff like that. But Netflix has held strong and they kind of suffered through and came through a little less scathed than some of the other competitors. They're currently the leader in terms of subscribers, with 260 million paid users worldwide, which was up 13% just in the last quarter, which is pretty notable. But I think one of the biggest pieces of evidence that Netflix is the leader right now and that they're kind of continuing to even gain steam from there is the fact that other streamers and content platforms that have been considered competitors and have kind of held out for their own exclusive licensing on original content on their own platforms are now starting to license their content to Netflix as well, one example being HBO's Insecure, but there's many examples, so it's just Go ahead.
Speaker 1:More examples include like YouTube programmers, like creators, like Miss Rachel is now on Netflix.
Speaker 2:Huge deal. That was a big one.
Speaker 1:And there was another one. Is it Blippi? Just the kids stuff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, miss Rachel going to Netflix is such a big one, and there was another one. Is it Blippi? Just the kid stuff, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, miss Rachel going to Netflix is such a big deal because she's always been such an independent creator and, like I'm sure, she's had so many offers she's like huge, so they must have paid a pretty penny to have her.
Speaker 2:For sure.
Speaker 1:I'm excited for her. Yeah, because she would have been making good money on. Youtube I'm excited for her?
Speaker 2:Yeah, because she would have been making good money on YouTube.
Speaker 1:Yeah, she was probably making great money.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:She has like the 60-minute compilations that just run on repeat. I know Seriously.
Speaker 2:But I think we're to your notes now if you want to talk about the pricing stuff.
Speaker 1:You can see this reflected in their strategy for increasing their price memberships, which they've been like bumping up like over and over and again. So, just if you're unfamiliar, they have three tiers of memberships. Their standard with no ads is $7.99 a month. Their standard with no ads sorry, their standard with ads is $7.99 a month. Their standard with no ads is $18.99, up to two devices and their premium with no ads is $18.99 up to two devices and their premium with no ads is $23.99, which you can watch on four devices and in 4k. So their highest membership is about $24, the lowest is about eight and netflix says that they're. They currently believe that they only earn about six percent of their revenue opportunities available and they plan to gradually expand their offerings with new content types in order to get more of that revenue opportunity, which means they're probably going to hike up their subscriptions even more. But they're also going to offer new programming options like live events and video games, which I will not be participating in video games.
Speaker 2:What if it's something that you would just end up liking?
Speaker 1:I can't think of a game that I'd end up liking.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'd be open to trying.
Speaker 2:It's possible.
Speaker 1:But I'm into the live events Speaking of like award shows, like if they got the Grammys, academy Awards.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 1:That's like, or Golden Globes. I'm in.
Speaker 2:You're in. I Like Golden.
Speaker 1:Globes. I'm in, You're in. I'll pay five extra dollars for that a year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm in for sure. I think that would be fun, and they showed with the NFL Christmas games that they can stream a good live event. Yeah, they've had a rocky past, but they're getting better. And they've also, I think, now they've got the exclusive rights for WWE Raw as well, which opens them up to a whole different audience.
Speaker 1:Yeah, great. I mean when you compare it to the cost of cable, which is about $40 a month.
Speaker 2:Is that all cable is? I thought cable was even more than that.
Speaker 1:Well, according to that article, it's about $40 a month and that includes ads, like you're getting so many ads with cable. It's still a better alternative and you can't choose when you watch those?
Speaker 2:shows they run, when they run so, yeah, I think anyone that's like complaining about Netflix price going up really it's. It makes sense. And I think too, when they started out and they were eight dollars or nine dollars or whatever it was that they were just a streaming curator, like they were just bringing shows that people wanted into one place that they could stream. But now that they've continued to grow the production side of things and put out more and more original programming that people actually want to see, of course it makes sense that they're charging more. So I actually didn't realize there was a difference between the standard no ads and premium no ads.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I wonder if we need premium.
Speaker 1:So we can watch in 4K. Really, I'm pretty sure we do.
Speaker 2:I don't know if we pay that much.
Speaker 1:I think we do. I would know, just did our, you would know. Also like apparently their revenue model. It makes better money for them if more people get the no ad version so that they can start creating like an advertising ecosystem, because then they'd get paid per advertiser plus the membership.
Speaker 2:So I don't know how they'll like try to get people into like that eight dollar membership oh, where they make more money if for the on the people that pay like pay the yeah and get ads yeah.
Speaker 1:Because then they can charge, like create an ecosystem of advertisers who pay them per ad. Right, you know which will be crazy?
Speaker 2:Interesting yeah.
Speaker 1:So how much? What's the max that you'd pay for Netflix? I?
Speaker 2:mean I don't want to pay more than I'm paying right now? Yeah, obviously yeah, but I think, yeah, I think there'd be a point where I'm only paying. I just am forced to pay for only one streaming service. Right now, we pay for a couple because we like the options.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Also, I think it'd be cool to have a either whether it's these streaming platforms all coming together to create this extra product, or if it's like a third party that gets like access to their platforms. But it'd be cool to be able to pay for some sort of like streaming passport where you get to kind of cherry pick the different programming from the different streaming platforms into one kind of hybrid.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That'd be pretty cool Cause, similar to cable like cable used to be 9,000 channels and there's really only 10 that you'd watch- Right. And I feel like streaming could kind of go in that direction, where it's really like there's this specific stream or genre of content that I like on one platform, there's a specific type that I like on another one, and I'd rather just have only what I want, you know yeah, I could see that but that might just be too good to be true yeah, because we'd want like the sports package.
Speaker 1:It's like I feel like I don't really watch that much on like prime. We obviously watch so much on Disney because of the kids, so it's like give us the kids Disney stuff.
Speaker 2:It's mostly Netflix and Disney, but then also there's like programming on Apple TV Plus that we like we still have to watch the sevens apparently. Yeah, I think we got like five or six episodes into the first season. Yeah, it's got a little spooky.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, it's so interesting to see, like, what's going on with Netflix and just the streamers in general, but I'm like I feel like we need to like cut down on some streaming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably. I see a lot of people talking about how much they like YouTube Premium, but the difference there is it's not really like original programming from YouTube. They're still kind of just like a curator.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:The thing I like about it is that the creators on the platform are getting paid when we pay for a premium subscription.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, like the Miss Rachel's before she moved to Netflix but and they kind of jam in YouTube music with your premium subscription and we don't really need that. No, but yeah, speaking of Netflix, love is blind is coming out again great great, I'm so excited I never mind watching it in the pods, but once once they're out of the pods, it all goes to shit. I it's just cringe.
Speaker 1:It's crazy how much it's become like my favorite reality tv show it has I can't think of another one wow like it probably is my favorite. It's so entertaining. What about that real estate?
Speaker 2:one that you like with Mauricio. What's it called?
Speaker 1:Yeah, but it only has one season and it's getting kind of boring now Because there's no conflict, which made me realize that we have conflict For our reality show. I also wonder, if I don't want a reality show, why that's a change of tune show. Yeah, I also wonder if I don't want a reality show.
Speaker 2:Why that's a change of tune.
Speaker 1:I just feel like life is kind of stressful.
Speaker 2:Like why add another guy now, throw that into the mix. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I think the reality shows just like open it up to what that stress is.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Like the Kardashians. At least you'd be making money on it making money on our stress if only we could do that now I know yeah, well, we can put a pin in it all right no reality tv show for now for now just some tiktoks yeah, maybe youtube.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for watching. Subscribe on YouTube. Leave us a review. Also, make sure, if you haven't yet checked out the trend report, make sure you go to scanclubsubstackcom and get a load of that, because we did not gatekeep anything. We dropped all that goodness into one report for free. We included a workbook and even a fig jam that shows how we tracked all the signals and connected them together into the trends that we covered. We also put out a podcast episode about it two episodes ago with Alyssa, our creative director and futurist, so if you haven't watched or listened to that yet, check it out. We unpack a little bit more of the process and the thought that went into some of these trends and also what they could mean for brands and marketers as we consider some of the plans and objectives we have for 2025.
Speaker 1:For sure.
Speaker 2:Check us out on Instagram and TikTok. Send us a message, let us know what you like, what you don't like.
Speaker 1:You're doing all the plugs. I love it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's the outro.
Speaker 1:That's the outro, and I think that's it.
Speaker 2:So, unless you have anything else to say, I'm just going to ring the gong.
Speaker 1:Have a wonderful snowy wintry week and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2:Good job. Need a better place for the gong. I feel like I'm just like crashing into things. It's perfect, right there.