Welcome back to another Taking Inventory

In this week’s newsletter you’ll find:

• 🎧 Creator dominance in spite of walled gardens

• 📰 DailyMail proves a new publishing model has arrived

• 📰 Google and Walmart team up to take on Amazon

Daily Mail's TikTok Triumph: Old News, New Tricks

The Daily Mail, a 127 year old publication out of the UK, is now the largest publisher of news in the world on TikTok. It’s grown reach by more than 1,500% over the last six months and is outpacing rivals like Sky News and ABC News by nearly 2 million followers and more than 2x the number of likes (27.4M vs. 13.6M). Their strategy? Tailored content. They’re engaging audiences directly on each platform in the style that resonates, and they’re doing it at volume. They have a team made up of 50/50 journalists and social media experts, showcasing what a modern publishing model looks like. So while their print edition targets the 50+ demographic, TikTok content is crafted for those under 25, and Snap for those under 35. This approach suggests that, while traditional publishers like Buzzfeed, Vice, and Vox are struggling, growth in publishing is still attainable with the right strategy. Link

Google & Walmart: Ad Buddies Against Amazon's Ad-vantage?"

Walmart has upped its advertising game, offering marketplace sellers access to Google Shopping Ads through its own self-service ad platform. This seems like a good match on its surface: Walmart sellers have more advertising options and Google gets to fill more ad demand. This partnership, however, likely goes deeper than that as both Google and Walmart battle Amazon. Google has seen its product related search volume shrink over the years as Amazon now controls 50% compared to 32% for Google. For Walmart, they’re of course fighting for retail spend, but now that they have a growing RMN they’re also fighting for those advertiser dollars and Amazon already captures the majority of that spend. In essence, this isn't just mutual gain; it's Google and Walmart's strategic move to chip away at Amazon's dominance. Link

Snap's Not Just Kicking, It's Thriving: Time to Cash In?

A lot of people are taken aback when they hear that Snapchat is still in the game. We often gauge an app's popularity by how much we use it personally or how much our friends talk about it. If they're not raving about Snapchat, we assume it's fading. But numbers tell a different story. In June alone, Snap boasted 397 million daily active users, outpacing both X and Pinterest. Yet, a massive user base doesn't always mean huge profits. Despite their impressive user stats, Snap reported a loss of $769M in just the first half of 2023. They've been hustling, adapting to Apple's policies, and exploring trendy tech like AI and augmented reality. However, as the article says, it’s time to make some real money. To truly thrive, they need a multi-pronged approach: improve efficiency (their cost of revenue is double that of Pinterest and almost triple Meta's), trim expenses (with R&D gobbling up 45% of their revenue), and, of course, capitalize on their massive user growth to ramp up revenue. Link