The Weekly HUBdate!??

Welcome to 2023’s first HUBdate! ??

We hope the new year resolutions are treating you well or rather that you’re treating them well. ??

Is “New Year, New Me” going okay bro? ??

Apple and Instagram may have taken that a little too seriously considering Apple will need a new CEO and Instagram needs a new algo! ??

Stick around till the end for our version of “New Year, New Me”! ??

Look what's trending!

??Is Tim cook resigning as Apple’s CEO?

??Is Instagram no longer unique?

??OTT Platform “STAGE” raises funding!

Is Tim Cook resigning as Apple’s CEO???

Known for their ground-breaking technology and impeccable design, the tech giant Apple is headed towards the end of an era with its reigning chief- Tim Cook stepping down from his CEO position. ?

The man that led the company in launching several new products and thus, tripling turnovers may stick around only till 2025 for the launch of a new Apple product that we may not be able to anticipate. ??

While most people are expecting the return of Johnny Ive with his sleeker designs and buttonless, port-less phones, a very similar Jeff Williams (present COO at Apple) might be headed towards filling the CEO shoes. He seems to have received quite the appreciation for the grand success that the Apple Watch was. His propositions are in line with Apple’s current design strategy.

Our view:

The launch of Apple’s new product, which is most likely to be an all-integrated AR/VR headset, will continue to be headed by Tim Cook. ??

Being more of a logistics guy, Jeff Williams heading Apple may or may not be a good thing if he plans to lead the company in a direction that is similar to the one it is currently in as it would bring about the same old design strategy when actually the company may need to switch it up. ??

Is Instagram no longer unique? ??

Instagram which started off as a place for a user to stay updated on the lives of their closest friends and family members has now transitioned into being everything every other content consumption app is. Apart from color grading filters being a feature that was first introduced by the platform, face filters and short form video content was taken from Snapchat and TikTok respectively. ??

If this brought about one thing for the platform, it was retention. Taking the best features of other platforms and introducing them on Instagram kept users from straying to other apps, thus increasing engagement hours. ??

Addressing the loss of its distinctiveness, Instagram’s Chief- Adam Mosseri spoke of the three main focusses of Instagram for 2023:

1. Inspire people to be creative??:

With the aim of helping creators build their Metaverse vision, Instagram plans to leverage the power of AR/VR tools in order to facilitate 3D creation.

2. Help people discover things they love??:

Taking a user away from seeing posts of people they’ve followed, Instagram aims to redirect users to discover newer content and accounts.

3. Spark connections between people??:

Due to concerns of ‘cancel culture’ seen on feed posts, there is a shift in social interaction from the feed to stories and DMs. Instagram believes that the ‘Notes’ feature is a novel one and will act as a prompt to spark new conversations amidst users.

Our view:

While these features remain relevant for personal pages, they need to be utilized differently by brands and marketers.

A product has a particular audience that is accustomed to a certain kind of content. ??

The best use must be made of these creative additions to enhance the role of the product in the audience’s lives. Since Instagram is attempting to push newer content, discoverability should not be an issue. ??

OTT Platform “STAGE” raises funding! ??

STAGE is a hyper-localized OTT platform that features professionally generated content. Whether it is information, entertainment or trends, the content featured on STAGE provides it all. ??

The company raised a funding of ?40 crore in a round led by Blume Ventures which also saw the participation of investors like NB Ventures, DHOLAKIA VENTURES , @TSM Ventures, WeFounder Circle, Mumbai Angels , AngelList India and more. ??

The company launched by Vinay Singhal , Shashank Vaishnav and Parveen Singhal focusses on amplifying content in multiple local languages and dialects. ??

Our view:

With its various web series in Haryanvi, Rajasthani, etc., already on the platform, STAGE has a significant amount of traffic approaching it with 225,000+ subscribers, growing by 30% every month. ??

Catering to the variety of languages and dialects in India, STAGE protects diversity. ??

The company claims to direct newly acquired funding into creation of more original content in Haryana and Rajasthan as their dialects have untapped markets. This strategy is bound to work for the platform considering their goal is focused and their audience is specific. ??

Compared to competitors like Ekta Kapoor owned ALT Balaji that last raised about $64 million, the company has raised significantly higher amounts of funding due their focus on hyper-localized content.

Hub Weekly Highlights!??

1. We're building impactful businesses with the intent to spark thought. Keep an eye out!??

2. We had the cutest end to the last week! Thank you Sahil Sayani and Ayman Chaudhary for setting the tone for 2023! ??

3. Akshay R Gowda?? , our Meme Raja, launched Dopameme.in -THE place for all your funnies! ??

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