Together with
Trippin’ out. The psychedelic renaissance is reaching a fever pitch, Future Party people. ICYMI, MAPS (the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) is hosting the largest-ever psychedelic conference in history in Denver — 11,000+ scientists, advocates, mental health professionals and psychonauts all in one place. Wild.
In other news… Netflix Nielsens itself, Candle Media joins forces with TikTok, and luxury loses the logos.
Top Trends
Reddit → Christopher Nolan
TikTok → “Makeba” - Jain
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ENTERTAINMENT
Netflix finally counts its audience
The Future. Netflix has updated how it measures viewership on the platform; now, people can see approximately how many people have watched its popular movies and shows. It’s not a perfect metric, but the changes could transform everything from what kind of shows make the top ten list (prepare for a lot more half-hour comedies and movies that require more word of mouth) to how creatives are able to telegraph the success of their projects.
People data
Netflix is Nielsening itself.
In addition to its total hours viewed metric, the streamer is introducing a “views” metric — average viewership for a film or show — calculated by dividing total hours watched by total runtime.
It’ll apply for all the titles in its weekly Top 10 rankings and all-time Most Popular lists.
Also, Netflix is expanding the measurement window to 91 days from 28 days, which will give movies and shows more time to catch on with audiences and grow in viewership.
The changes have already shifted popularity rankings on the platform, with Wednesday now taking the top English-language series spot over Stranger Things Vol. 4.
That’s because the fourth season of Stranger Things was nearly twice as long as Wednesday, which previously skewed the rankings in its favor — the longer the show, the more hours watched.
ENTERTAINMENT
Reese looking for her new movie // Illustration by Kate Walker
Candle Media signs TikTok up for a development partnership
The Future. Candle Media, the Blackstone-backed entertainment empire founded by Kevin Mayer and Tom Staggs, has struck a deal with TikTok which will let Candle leverage the social platform’s community and reach, while giving TikTok the ability to stretch into the world of film and TV. If the partnership births a few breakout projects, we may start to see social media leveraged as a more official breeding ground for top-tier movies and shows.
From #BookTok to screen
Kevin Mayer is getting back together with TikTok.
Candle Media and TikTok entered a “broad strategic partnership” that will see them co-develop both premium and branded content.
Leveraging Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine will be a major part of that deal, as the brand will look for stories from the popular #BookTok to adapt for film, TV, and podcasts.
Candle will also become a TikTok Pulse Premiere publisher, which means advertisers can buy ads specifically to be shown on Candle content (revenue is split with TikTok).
Also, Candle-owned companies like ATTN, Moonbug Entertainment, and Exile Content will work with advertisers on branded content for the platform.
While Candle Media has been busy acquiring stakes in entertainment brands for the past couple of years, the TikTok deal is one of the best examples of the company’s “three Cs” strategy: “content, community, and commerce.”
We’ll see how it pays off.
TOGETHER WITH VERB
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FASHION
Erasing the logo // GIF by Kate Walker
Luxury loses the logos
The Future. Taking cues from culture-making shows like Succession, the TikTok trend of “quiet luxury,” and the courtroom looks of Gwyenth Paltrow (lol), fashion is starting to ditch the ostentatious logo for something far more subtle. The new ”logoless” movement may not necessarily be a sign of style humility as much as a “let the material speak for itself” flexing.
Silent flex
Are the days of spotlighting the luxury logo over?
Fashion wholesale platform Joor reported that North American sales for logo-heavy products have dropped 43% this year.
That’s a strong reason why major fashion houses have started to invest more in their more logo-light brands, like LVMH with Loro Piana and Kering Bottega Veneta.
Zegna, a Succession-favorite, has also reported that sales last year were better than expected and look very strong this year.
And the finalists for the LVMH Prize, one of the top awards in fashion and a signal of coming trends, were much more focused on the materials than the logo.
In the words of Basile Khadiry, who co-founded renowned French menswear review L’Étiquette, “A lot of people no longer feel the need to distinguish themselves with a logo to show what tribe they belong to. They’re ready to love clothes for other reasons: the quality, the style.”
So long, logo-hungry clout chasers.
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Highlights
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Tech, Web3, & AI
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Creator Economy
Livestream gamer Félix Lengyel, known as xQc, is ditching Twitch for Kick with a groundbreaking two-year deal that could net him $100 million. Read more → nyt
Smosh Co-Founders Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox are getting the troop back together and buying a majority stake of their brand back from Mythical Entertainment. Read more → variety
During a panel at Cannes Lions, Amazon Studio’s Global Head of DEIA Latasha Gillespie told Keke Palmer she wants to partner with her production company, KeyTV, to help with their goal of giving young people from underrepresented communities a foothold in the industry. Read more → deadline
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Editing by Melody Song. Publishing by Darline Salazar.