✅ Monday briefing: #Rexit, pitching BBC producers, streaming woe, recession warning, Insta algo update, TikTok book sales, podcast media databases, and more...

WaddsCon takes place on Wednesday. Join us 1-2pm for four presentations and a discussion on pitching the media

This newsletter is crowdsourced each week from my blog and community of practice for people studying and working in marketing, media and public relations. It’s a hive mind, newsroom, and source of information, help and support. You’d be welcome to join us.

All of the free tickets for the April edition of WaddsCon on media pitching have gone but you can still grab one for a fiver. We've a brilliant speaker line-up. Join us on Wednesday 27th April, 1pm-2pm as four speakers each deliver a presentation followed by a lively Q&A with the audience. All income is donated to The BAY Foodbank in Newcastle.

Ukraine

🤜 #REXIT: 750 companies have curtailed operations in Russia according to data compiled by the Yale School of Management. It’s impossible to say whether all these companies are motivated purely by purely moral values, but they’ve gone above and beyond what is legally required by international sanctions. It’s to be welcomed. Spotted Kate Hartley.

Media

🎬 STREAMING WOE: Netflix has lost 200,000 subscribers and expects to lose a further two million before by summer. Half of these are due to it exiting Russia. The platform has raised prices and faces stiff competition from Disney and HBO. It said that it plans to clamp down on account sharing and launch an ad funded model. Spotted Stephen Waddington.

📺 CNN+ MOTHBALLED: In another example of a shakeout in the streaming market CNN+ has closed a month after launch. The premier news service failed to meet expectation securing only 100,000 users in the first month. Source: Graham Robb.

Best and bad practice

🛫 HARD LANDING: Budget airline EasyJet has been blasted for tweeting a photograph of a customer who tattooed their first boarding pass onto their arm. They used the caption ‘never forget’ which is widely used to remember victims of Nazi genocide. The tattoo is also reminiscent of the serial numbers forcibly inked onto Auschwitz prisoners. Spotted Lani Fran. 

🎙️ CRISIS PR PODCAST: The When the Dust Settles podcast provides short 15-minute insights into disaster recovery. Lucy Easthope shares first hand stories of 9/11, floods, Fukuskima, and the pandemic. It's a must listen. Spotted Rob Bruce.

Research and insight

❓ PR WORKSPACE: CIPR Midlands is investigating the post pandemic relationship between the home and office working of public relations practitioners. The data will be shared at an virtual event on 19 May. Source Stuart Baird.

🩹 WELLBEING IN PR: The EUPRERA Women in PR network is researching wellbeing in public relations for a new study in Jordan, Poland, Romania, Switzerland, and the UK. It is seeking input from agency, freelance, and in-house practitioners. The data will be used for writing up publications such as reports, journal articles, book chapters and books. Source Dr Martina Topic.

💷 RECESSION WARNING: The Government’s own economic indicators are bleak. Now would be a good time to check your recession fitness. The underlying issues driving GDP down and inflation up are cost pressures created by the lifting of the energy price cap and Brexit. Source Stephen Waddington.

Social media and platforms

📊 EU DIGITAL SERVICES ACT: Online platforms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will have to do more to tackle illegal content or face multibillion euro fines under a new European Union regulation. The Digital Services Act can now fine platforms up to 6% of their global revenue. Spotted Sarah Waddington.

🤳 INSTA ALGO UPDATE: Instagram is making updates to the way that it ranks content to put more focus on original work. Product tags, enhanced tags, and originality are all variables included in the update. Spotted Alan Morrison.

📙 TIKTOK BOOK SALES: The Publishers Association says readers discussing their favourite books on TikTok helped lift sales to record levels in the UK in 2021, particularly of fiction and Young Adult titles. Sales rose 5% to £6.7 billion in 2021, a new high for the industry. Spotted Ilonka Waterdrinker.

Tools

🖼️ AI IMAGE CREATOR: AI research group OpenAI has trained a neural network called DALL·E that creates images from text captions for a wide range of concepts expressible in natural language. Joint the waitlist for access to the tool. Spotted Andrew Bruce Smith.

📻 PODCAST MEDIA DATABASE: Traditional media intelligence tools (Gorkana, Roxhill, Vuelio, etc.) are building podcast databases. Other services for connecting podcasters and guests include Matchmaker and Podchaser. Source Andrew Grill and Russell Goldsmith.