Trend Reports are Trending
Welcome to the Culture Edit.
‘Tis the season! Everyone's predicting the future, and guess what? Trend reports are officially one of 2024’s biggest trends.
This week, we’ve done the sifting for you. From consumer behavior to social media shifts, search, and even sports, we pulled out the most relevant data so you don’t have to.
Our regular culture wrap-up follows (don’t miss that last link—trust us).
Enjoy the crystal ball gazing!
· E-commerce spending has doubled in the past five years
· TikTok Shop is huge, surpassing Sephora
· Majority of users are concerned about Chinese ownership
· 70% of Americans use Amazon monthly, 83% favorable opinion
· Alcohol industry is fine
· Beauty consumers are loyal
· 60% believe US is in recession, but it’s not
Pew Research: Teens, Social Media and Technology 2024
· YouTube tops, 90% usage by teens – with 73% using daily
· 60% use TikTok and Instagram, and 55% say the same for Snapchat.
· Facebook and X use have steeply declined over the past decade - 32% of teens say they use Facebook
· 17% use X
· 23% use WhatsApp
· Only 6% of teens report using Threads
· TikTok by Race: one-quarter of Black (28%) or Hispanic (25%) teens use constantly, 8% among White teens
· Sports content on TV grew over 30% year over year
· Viewers watched over 400M hours of podcasts monthly on living room devices
The top searches by category, dominated by elections and the Olympics.
The AI Ad Gap: Why Young Consumers Aren’t Yet Buying Into Gen AI Ads
Advertisers think they are great (quick, efficient, cheap), young consumers not so much.
· 80% of ad executives think consumers view them positively, but only 48% of Gen Z and Millennials agree
Substackers weigh in on what they’re anticipating in the new year
· 59% increase in run club participation
· 58% made new friends via fitness groups
· 1 in 5 Gen Z’s went on a date with someone they met through exercise - and were 4x more likely to want to meet people through working out than at the bar
· 40% average increase in activity length
· Runners training for marathons added more rest and active recovery days
· Large group activities increased by 13% and had 3x more downtime than solo activities
· Boomers and Gen X outpaced Millennials and Gen Z in both mileage and achieving respective King, or Queen of the Mountain (KOM/QOM) crowns
· Weight training was the fastest-growing sport type among women
· 11% increase in the share of female cyclists
The Secrets of the Man Who Made Nvidia the World’s Most Valuable Company
“They’re called T5T emails. They’re essential to Jensen Huang’s success.”
How Sephora became the kingmaker of the $30 billion, high-end beauty industry
An in-depth analysis of their business practice, but the missing element here is the talent strategy in the retail locations.
Company holiday parties are falling out of fashion
Another pandemic legacy continues. Remote work, lack of culture and camaraderie all lead to less desire to get together for a holiday celebration.
The future of socializing in NYC includes $155 bottle service — but not the kind you think
“Instead of tequila or vodka, there’s a selection of 750-ml bottles of water that costs as much as $155.”
This Video is AI Generated! SORA Review
There’s a lot to think about here.
Putting Your Marathon Time on Your Résumé: Healthy Fun or Cringey Flex?
We’re not judging.
The Workplace Politics of Holiday Party Dressing
Transcendental Cheap Magic: Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ At 40
Culture Edit Podcast
This week’s one-on-one episode finds Nikki and Chad still in Miami as they wrap up an exhausting Art Basel. They chat through the pod’s Spotify wrapped data, their own surprising wrapped rankings, how traffic compares to ATL (there’s water involved), Nikki flubbing a brush with Bethenny Frankel, robot deliveries, the second-best espresso martini at Feana, and why WhatsApp. They give us a run-down on exactly what goes down at “Miami Art Week” from a newbes perspective, including the shows, parties, brand activation smoke and mirror tactics, the elephant migration installation, and how there’s a huge opportunity for athletic brands to get involved.
Spotify or anywhere you get your podcasts.