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Storm of the century. Happy Monday, FutureParty people. We hope everyone had a relatively dry and safe weekend, particularly our friends in Baja California and SoCal. ICYMI, Tropical Storm Hilary made landfall yesterday, bringing high winds and major flooding. This historic event marks the first time in 84 years that a tropical storm has hit southern California. Based on how crazy 2023 has been so far, we wonder what else it has in store.
In other news… Gen Z prefers influencers to journalists, Hollywood strikes slash the summer box office, and OpenSea closes the door on artist royalties.
Top Trends
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SOCIAL MEDIA
It’s Tok o’clock // Illustration by Kate Walker
Influencer-driven news needs a fact check
The Future. These days, Gen Z is more interested in getting the news from influencers than journalists, and that’s had a major effect on what types of stories get shared, how they’re presented, and the rigor in which they’re investigated. With local news circling the drain and influencer culture now a part of mainstream culture, there may be no putting the genie back in the bottle. While that may be leading to a rise in misinformation, legit outlets could stay a guiding force by developing their own personalities who can succeed as digital creators.
Gen Z Tonight
According to Pew, about a quarter of US adults under 30 get their news from TikTok. At the same time, another study by Reuters and the University of Oxford found younger audiences want to get their news from “personalities” rather than traditional outlets or professional journalists.
Reasons for the shift include the generation growing up with social media, a general distrust of corporations and legacy media, and a desire to be a part of online communities that focus on their interests.
And by locking onto a few specific influencers, Gen Z audiences report they can filter through an overwhelming number of current events. In other words, if it’s important, it’ll get shared.
The effects of this shift are… well… complicated. The negative consequences are a dime a dozen, like celebrity gossip account DeuxMoi falsely reporting every member aboard the OceanGate submersible was alive, a creator reporting SHEIN didn’t violate labor laws while on a SHEIN-sponsored trip to its factories, or Katy Perry fans believing the rumor the singer had killed a nun (there was no murder, but a nun did die).
But there have also been some positives: V Spehar’s TikTok channel, Under The Desk News, became so popular The Los Angeles Times recruited them to launch their own personality-based TikTok channel, and The Washington Post has found increased reach with Gen Z after launching a slate of personality-based channels.
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ENTERTAINMENT
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem // Courtesy of Paramount
Hollywood strikes slash the summer box office
The Future. With Barbenheimer representing the last wave of star-driven publicity prior to the duel Hollywood strikes, August is the first month of new movie releases without the marketing help of its cast. While some films have already been pushed to next year, a few underperforming titles during August and September could incite another wave of reschedules if a deal with striking actors hasn’t been reached yet.
Minus the A-list
Without actors to stump for new releases, studios are tempering expectations at the box office.
Studio sources told THR they’ll likely lose as much as 15% of the expected box office revenue because actors aren’t doing publicity.
In a first specific example, Paramount reports TMNT: Mutant Mayhem would’ve likely made up to $10 million more than it did domestically during its opening weekend ($43.1 million) if its cast could’ve been out doing interviews.
This weekend saw the releases of Warner Bros.’ Blue Beetle and Universal’s Strays, which both came in slightly below already-low expectations, despite some creative marketing.
As one unnamed top studio executive notes, not having stars doing press makes “you lose the cultural impact of having talent talk about the film. Some movies wouldn’t have worked anyway, but they had more of a shot.”
With negotiations stalled between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP (and so many more movies still on the release calendar), we’ll get a clearer picture of the scope of the impact soon enough.
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CRYPTO
Sunk cost // Illustration by Kate Walker
OpenSea ditches the original NFT artist
The Future. OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces, is ending the practice of enforcing royalties for artists when their NFTs are resold. For OpenSea, it’s a move to stir up activity on the plateauing platform. But for artists, it’s just stirring up frustration as they lose another revenue stream and ongoing connection with their work. With the promise of endless monetization fading from the blockchain, NFTs may no longer be the gold rush it once was.
Dumb contract
OpenSea may be sinking the creator-driven NFT business model.
The company announced it would no longer enforce royalty fee payments starting August 31st for new collections and March 2024 for existing collections.
After the deadlines, the fees associated with any given work will be treated as an optional tip — buyers don’t have to pay those fees if they choose not to.
Announcing the change, OpenSea CEO Devin Finzer called the fees “ineffective, unilateral enforcement” and said creators will find new ways to make money.
But those royalty payments — which OpenSea enforced at 0.5% of sales, but which creators could set up to 10% — were the lifeblood of smaller artists. While their collections may not have sold high initially, a surge in popularity down the road might lead to huge windfalls.
And on the flip side, it’s not like OpenSea is getting rid of its fees…
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
Data for Progress found 67% of Americans support the writers and actors strikes, with solid support for artists having the ability to receive stronger residual payments for streaming and control how AI is used. Read more → variety
Speaking of the strikes, charitable organizations that started to support out-of-work actors and writers have raked in millions of dollars, with checks being distributed to help with rent and groceries. Read more → bloomberg
UC Berkeley researchers used the brain waves of 29 people to create an algorithmic cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” Read more → newatlas
Fashion & E-Commerce
The Taylor Swift of soccer: with Lionel Messi and Inter Miami coming to NYC to face off against the New York Red Bulls, tickets are going anywhere from $496 to $10,000. Read more → bloomberg
Instacart is planning to IPO as soon as next month, right on the heels of slashing its valuation and cutting base pay for workers. Read more → insider
Ralph Lauren is doubling down on the metaverse to attract younger customers. Read more → bloomberg
Tech, Web3, & AI
257 elderly New Yorkers are testing an AI robot companion, ElliQ, to combat loneliness, with one detailing how it’s been life-changing. Read more → insider
Despite embedding ChatGPT into Bing, Microsoft has apparently failed to steal any meaningful search market share from Google. Read more → wsj
Cities are building “clean air centers” to give residents a respite during inclement climate events, including wildfire smoke or the release of airborne pollutants. Read more → axios
Creator Economy
Amazon is trying to boost content creation for its TikTok-like Inspire platform by paying influencers $25 for each video they post. Read more → techcrunch
Twitch is allowing livestreamers to block banned users from watching their streams — a move to curb harassment on the platform. Read more → theverge
Threads’ hot streak is cooling, with daily active users dropping by 80% and the average daily watch time clocking in at 2.4 minutes. Read more → tubefilter
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Nick Comney. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.