Loving Love Island

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Happy Wednesday, Future Party. The national day of mourning is officially over, and you’re now free to choose a new soccer team to root for. Choose wisely — this is your one free pass. Tell your friends and family, so they can hold you accountable.

Gen Z audiences have turned Peacock’s reality series Love Island USA into cultural daily-appointment viewing.

The Big Picture: Reality TV has had it rough over the past several years. Shows like The Bachelor and American Idol used to command NFL-level ratings a decade ago, but the genre’s viewership is now only a fraction of what it once was: 34% of the top 50 broadcast shows in the early 2010s were reality series, compared with just 12% in 2023. The popularity of Love Island USA offers the industry hope that young people still have an appetite for unscripted drama… even in the streaming era.

Behind The Viewership: Despite already being eight seasons in, Love Island USA is more popular than ever, according to Bloomberg.

Last Looks: Why does Gen Z love Love Island USA so much? Beyond the juicy drama, the show’s nearly daily schedule fuels instant FOMO, while its interactive voting app puts viewers in the decision seat, letting them decide which contestants stay and which get booted off the island. That engagement has translated into major trading volume on prediction markets, with Kalshi even giving the show its own “dedicated tab” in its culture section.

Gen Z has also proven to be starved for in-person socializing… and Love Island USA is helping fill that gap. The show has sparked a wave of public watch parties, with bars reporting boosted business thanks to group viewing — a notable turn of events given how much less Gen Z drinks than previous generations.

Prediction: Not only will there be plenty of imitators of Love Island USA’s format, but expect streamers to experiment with new ways to fuel communal audience engagement between episodes.

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The biggest luxury brands in the world have gone all-in on F1.

Why It Wins: F1 has become a global phenomenon, winning over fans across generations and demographics. As luxury brands grapple with slumping sales and changing consumer tastes, hitching a ride with F1 offers a way to expand their audience while maintaining an air of exclusivity.

Behind The Paddock: Luxury brands are about to be all over the grid, per Axios.

Last Lap: Before luxury brands felt the need for speed, star driver Lewis Hamilton was something of an ambassador for classing up the paddock, essentially creating F1’s version of the NBA’s tunnel fits. He has since become an ambassador for brands like Dior and Tommy Hilfiger before launching his own label. That helped pave the way for more drivers to elevate their style… and opened the door for fashion houses to join the race.

Next Race: Prepare for the F1 tunnel fit to go into full force this year, potentially reshaping fashion trends next season.

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38.3% of you voted Very important in yesterday’s poll: How important is owning physical media (music, movies, games, etc.) to you?

“I like having the hard copy. The internet can go down. Sites can be hacked, but having the hard copy is a great safety net. It’s the same with books — there’s nothing like a hard copy rather than a Kindle or another digital version.”

“I have CDs, DVDs, game discs, etc. I also keep plenty of videos on flash drives because, if there’s one thing I’m scared of, it’s losing access to the things I love — like the many YouTube videos that get taken down.”

“Ownership of media, cars, and houses is the key to wealth and freedom. That’s why the new goal is to take it away from us and put us on ever-changing subscriptions.”

“If I want to watch a movie, I want to watch it — not dig through what’s available, figure out how much it’ll cost, sit through a load of commercials for products I’d never buy anyway, and then finally watch it when I want to.”

“I just got rid of all my physical media in one go. It’s only been a few years since my last move, and I’m not talking about switching houses — I’m talking continents. Big moves are the best way to stop buying stuff. If you wouldn’t haul it across a continent, you probably don’t need it.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join Poll Of The Day, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

⚽ The USMNT’s loss to Belgium was the most-watched soccer game in American history, with an average of 30 million viewers.

📺 Netflix has inked a deal with multiple publishers — including THR, Billboard, and Condé Nast — to bring short-form videos to its platform.

🎤 Justin Bieber’s Coachella sets will now be permanently available on YouTube.

🤔 Anthropic claims that Claude has developed an internal space in its code where it “thinks” through strategies before putting them into words.

👓 New York is banning smart glasses in its courtrooms, so people can’t film hearings.

🤖 Meta released an image-generating AI model called Muse Image.

💻 Google is rolling out a new way for creators and brands to track the search terms people use to discover their content.

📱 X launched a suite of video-editing tools to encourage users to post original content.

🎓 Kai Cenat’s second-annual Streamer University will feature Lizzo, Pokimane, and T-Pain as part of its faculty.