?? The tortured lobsters department
This is an abridged version of our weekly newsletter, ‘On the dot’. To get the full edition in all its glory,?subscribe to the real deal.
Hi folks,
Ladies and gents, the album we’ve all been waiting for is out, and it’s even longer than we anticipated. No, not Taylor Swift’s latest LP, but Red Lobster’s 30-song, AI-generated magnum opus about its irresistible cheddar bay biscuits. Don’t text until we get through the whole thing.?
Scroll down to read about chief tractor offers, churning dating preferences, and children in basketball.?
Stats to power your week
??? Airchat is the latest audio-first social media app to get a buzz with its long waitlist of signups. You might remember Clubhouse, which got attention during Covid lockdowns, before falling in favor in recent years. But some interesting audiences are still logging on, including Indigenous Australians (8% use it at least monthly), business analysts (7%), and interior designers (7%). GWI Core
?? Helped by the generational talent of Caitlin Clark, women’s basketball is having a moment. Its rising popularity is reflected in our Kids data, where basketball has moved up to the top sport played or watched by girls in the US. GWI Kids
? Do the brands you read, wear, or watch reveal who you’re going to vote for? Not necessarily (well, we can think of one), but they may show what values you align with. In a recent survey, we identified Bumble, Crunchyroll, and Arsenal FC as some of the brands with the most self-declared progressive audiences, while the most conservative included Suzuki, Telegram Messenger, and Fox News. GWI Zeitgeist
?? This time last year, the rapper Drake posted an Instagram story saying that an AI-generated cover of him was the “last straw.” 12 months on, and Drizzy is using the technology to add 2Pac to his latest diss track. While it may seem like fun and games, more consumers are turned off by the idea of using AI in this kind of postmortem way (38%) than are interested in it (35%). GWI Zeitgeist
?? Our music tastes say a lot about us, not just what we like, but also the culture and identity we connect with. For example, metal is the genre that leans most to a male audience, while K-Pop is the equivalent for women. If you think they’re worlds apart, the Korean band Dreamcatcher has managed to somehow fuse the two. GWI Core
Chart of the week
Coachella 2024 ended its two-weekend festival on Sunday and despite worries the annual event’s popularity may not recover after the pandemic, our data says otherwise.??
In 2018 and 2019, a steady 23% of US consumers were grabbing concert tickets. Then, with the sudden onset of Covid in 2020, concert halls echoed with silence as figures plummeted to 17%. By 2021, the number dipped to 13%, painting a stark picture for the future of live music.
By 2022, things started to look up with 18% of consumers purchasing tickets. Now in 2023, we're almost touching the pre-pandemic peak at 21%. Concerts might be more expensive in a post-Covid world, but they’re no less popular.
?More from GWI
This is an abridged version of our weekly newsletter, ‘On the dot’. To get the full edition in all its glory,?subscribe to the real deal.