Bye-Bye, BuzzFeed

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It’s time to close out the week, TFP. If you caught last month’s mega-popular fight between Jake Paul and Mike Tyson on Netflix, you might have noticed that there were a few technical difficulties. That’s to be expected when 108 million people were streaming it concurrently. Co-CEO Ted Sarandos said the event was “stressing the limits of the internet itself.” So, rest assured that it wasn’t your home’s WiFi setup that was glitchy… but maybe power down your unneeded devices before you watch their Christmas Day NFL games.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Hot Ones Flies The BuzzFeed Coup

BuzzFeed sold First We Feast, the studio behind the popular Hot Ones interview series, for $82.5 million to a group of investors that will let the company run as an independent media company.

The Big Picture: BuzzFeed has been hungry to find a buyer for First We Feast to pay down its substantial debt and swat away investor Vivek Ramaswamy’s threats of a takeover. Meanwhile, First We Feast, which was caught in limbo after parent company Complex was sold, has been looking for an exit so that it could spread its (hot) wings.

Between the Wings: The Hot Ones crew is feasting right now.

• First We Feast’s new investors include founder Chris Schonberger (who will now be CEO) and Hot Ones host Sean Evans (who will now be Chief Creative Officer), Crooked Media, Rhett & Link’s Mythical Entertainment, and Soros Fund Management.

• The newly independent studio will expand into new platforms, live events (potentially with Netflix), and talent acquisition… on top of continuing shows like Hot Ones, The Burger Show, and Pro Moves.

Final Gauntlet: First We Feast should have no problem continuing its upward trajectory — it has 27 million followers across social platforms, while flagship show Hot Ones has become a de-facto press stop for celebrities (it’s netted four billion views over the past decade). For BuzzFeed, the company is using the money to pay down its debt enough to have a balance sheet with more cash than debt… and potentially transform itself from a traditional publisher to a tech-focused company with “new AI-powered interactive experiences.”

Go Hotter: Sean Evans has been pitching that YouTube show hosts should be getting a lot more recognition. The independence of First We Feast could make that a reality.

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Teens Need A Digital Detox

A new study by Pew Research Center found that almost half of US teens are “almost constantly” online.

Why It Hits: Though the platforms differ among genders, Pew’s survey demonstrates that young people’s communication, media consumption, and social lives are, for many, smartphone-first.

Between the Notifications: Being “too online” is now a generational problem.

But who are the main culprits?

• 90% of teenagers watch YouTube, and 73% say they use the platform every day. 19% of boys say they’re “almost constantly” on it.

• 63% use TikTok, with 19% of girls saying they’re “almost constantly” using it.

• Meta, on the other hand, has lost the kids. While they love Instagram (61% use it), they don’t really care for Facebook (32%), WhatsApp (23%), or Threads (just 6%).

• Fun fact: Facebook ruled young hearts and minds a decade ago with 71% use.

Logging Off: The Verge points out that data shows teens truly do prefer platforms that prioritize videos and images over text-based ones. That’s not surprising, but it’s still eye-opening to see how much the usage of X and Reddit has dropped with the new generation, and it explains why Threads is struggling to make its mark despite being tied to Insta. It seems that if teens have something to say, they’ll either make a public video about it or simply share it in a private group chat with friends.

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DEEP DIVES

• Read: The Ringer breaks down how this year’s Oscar race appears to be one of the widest open in recent history.

• Explore: The Black List has revealed the inaugural Adaptation List — the books that you can expect to be made into a movie or show in the coming years.

• Listen: WSJ details how Reddit has surged as one of the most important platforms due to AI.

59.3% of you voted No in yesterday’s poll: Have you played any games from the Grand Theft Auto franchise?

“I’m an old fool from the old pinball school.”

“I live in LA, so I drive Grand Theft Auto every day...”

“I have, all the way up to this present moment. The game still finds a way to be relevant in my circle of gaming buddies. We can’t wait for GTA IV.”

“I remember playing all the PSP 3000-compatible variants of GTA when I was younger (Vice City, Liberty City, and Chinatown Wars). I would play when I was supposed to be doing homework, and my proudest accomplishment was that I got 100% completion in all of the games, which means every single side quest and easter egg available in the game.”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

QUICK HITS

→ Entertainment / Media

📺 Warner Bros. Discovery is the latest entertainment conglomerate to work on separating its declining cable business from the rest of its assets.

👀 The National Labor Relations Board ruled that contestants on Love Is Blind should be considered employees — a decision that could upend reality TV.

💰 A new study found that US consumers will spend almost $200,000 on their internet, mobile, streaming, and cable subscriptions over the course of 60 years.

→ Technology

🥽 Google is getting into extended reality with the launch of the Android XR platform.

🤖 Character.AI announced that it’s created a new LLM for users under 18 after several safety issues.

🧐 In a review of Sora, influencer Marques Brownlee wonders if the system was trained on his videos (yeah, they probably were).

→ Fashion / E-commerce

👕 Bottega Veneta creative director Matthieu Blazy is taking over as the artistic director of Chanel — one of the most coveted jobs in luxury fashion.

📱 Mantel, the collector-focused social platform from Wheelhouse founder Brent Montgomery, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, and former The Athletic general manager Evan Parker, now has a mobile app.

🦖 Can a dinosaur IPO? Rally is making it happen with a Stegosaurus skeleton.