The Media Nut began a week after I was laid off because the options facing me were either to wallow in misery for not having a job and health insurance during a pandemic, or take that energy and practice what I preached to my reporters: just fucking write.
So I do. Every day for the last 16 weeks (minus a week for some quality Josh Time), there’s a fresh piece—some good, some bad, some ugly, all me.
Now that this tiny newsletter is four months old, I wanted to do a quick reader survey. I hear from a lot of you—via email, LinkedIn, Twitter—and I really enjoy the conversations we have.
I’m always looking to be better and hope you’ll take the 3 minutes to fill out this anonymous reader survey to tell me what’s working and what can be improved upon, as well as to gauge whether you would be comfortable paying for this product.
The Media Nut has steadily grown (3,238 subscribers as of this writing!) solely because of you sharing with colleagues, and I really can’t thank you enough.
Friday’s Bite:
Yesterday, Epic Games, maker of games like Fortnite and Grand Theft Auto, sued Apple and Google over anti-competitive conduct.
Apple and Google typically take a 30 percent vig on payments made inside apps, and Epic finally said enough. The video game company recently gave an option for users to pay Epic directly, thus cutting off a revenue stream for Apple and Google, and ultimately, forcing the tech companies to boot Epic from their App/Play Store for violating their terms of services.
Epic, looking for a fight, sued both companies. Epic isn’t the only company pissed at Apple and Google, but it’s the only one that has both financial resources to fight these Goliaths (Epic brought in $4.2 billion in revenue with $730 million EBITDA) and a large fan-base (i.e. public opinion) to support them.
“Fortnite” is one of the most popular video games in the world. Last year, Epic Games boasted the game had about 250 million active accounts a month. According to market research firm Sensor Tower, “Fortnite” was downloaded 2.4 million times on the App Store over the last 30 days and generated $43.4 million in consumer spending through the iOS app over that period. Since it was created, it has tallied 133.2 million installs and accounted for $1.2 billion in spending.
The timing of all this is pretty interesting, as Apple and Google only a fortnight ago were dragged (via Zoom) in front of Congress to talk about anticompetitive conduct.
Epic is just one of several developers clashing with Apple. Others include Spotify, Tinder parent Match Group and the makers of email app Hey.
They all argue Apple is shaking down entire industries, in some cases putting direct competitors at a disadvantage. (Apple Music, for instance, is a rival service to Spotify.) And they say Apple is unafraid of any government officials holding it to account.
So we’ve got a lot of things happening here, but for marketers, the chef’s kiss of all this: Epic released a pitch-perfect parody of Apple’s iconic “1984” ad.
Here’s the original:
Here’s Epic’s:
And because we live in a golden age of content, here’s the two of them side by side:
Keeping it short today! Thank you, as always, for allowing me in your inbox. If you have tips or thoughts on the newsletter, drop me a line. Or you can follow me on Twitter. If you like this newsletter, please consider sharing on your social networks or sending to colleagues to sign up. And please, take a couple of minutes to fill out the reader survey. Have a safe, healthy and great weekend. See you Monday.
Vampire Weekend “Sunflower”
Some interesting links:
How QAnon rode the pandemic to new heights — and fueled the viral anti-mask phenomenon (NBC News)
Dodgers, LeBron James team up to make Dodger Stadium a polling site (ESPN)
The Wikipedia War That Shows How Ugly This Election Will Be (The Atlantic)
TikTok Deal Could Challenge Microsoft CEO’s Light Touch on Acquisitions (Wall Street Journal)
Why the U.S. Is Losing the War On COVID-19 (Time)
Mark Zuckerberg Says Facebook Doesn’t Want To Be The “Arbiter Of Truth.” Its Fact-Checkers And Employees Say It Already Is. (BuzzFeed News)
The best-kept secret in documentaries? It’s all in the casting. (Washington Post)
The Post Office Is Deactivating Mail Sorting Machines Ahead of the Election (Vice)
I lay this thought on you...3,238 subscribers is amazing, congrats Josh! Keep writing and they'll keep coming.