Pausepocalypse

PRESENTED BY SUPERPLASTIC

How are the vibes, FutureParty people? If you think the vibes on X have gotten pretty weird over the past year, but you’re not sure if there’s another platform that can capture that old Twitter feeling, why not try all of them… simultaneously? That’s the premise behind Openvibe, a new app that lets you post to Bluesky, Threads, and Mastodon all at once. Maybe the future of social media is being always on on every platform. Typos just got a lot more high stakes.

DAILY TOP TRENDS

Hangout Tunes Up Virtual Listening Parties

Hangout — part social media app, part music streamer — has pulled back its velvet rope, stacked with music from the biggest labels in the industry.

Why It’s A Hit: Social audio and metaverse platforms surged in popularity during the pandemic… and then quickly faded away. But Hangout’s sign-off by the music industry could give it enough legitimacy to be a serious player.

Between The Tracks: Hangout founder and CEO Joseph Perla is reviving the dream of Turntable.fm (which he was the CTO of over a decade ago) with his new platform.

• Hangout, developed by Turntable Labs, is an Animal Crossing-like platform where users can create avatars and start or join virtual listening rooms.

• The host of the room is the DJ, who can build and modify a playlist in real time, tweak elements of the song, and invite other participants to co-DJ.

• Listeners can move about the room and thumbs up or down the DJ’s setlist, which affects the room’s “Vibe Meter.”

• The platform, which is available online and as an iOS and Android app, will make its money via subscriptions and the sale of virtual goods.

Encore: What makes Hangout stand out is that Sony Music, Universal Music Group, and Warner Music Group have all struck deals with the startup, giving the platform a library of roughly 100 million songs. That’s a major seal of approval, and it demonstrates Hangout was able to figure out a licensing deal right from the start that makes sense for all parties involved (and hopefully won’t lead to a UMG-TikTok situation). If users find the platform fun, expect a major artist to host an album first listening-session on the platform as a ticketed event.

Together with Superplastic

“The Perfect Gift Doesn’t Exis–”

Happy Collectivus Season!

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Streaming Audiences Love To Pause

New data shows that a record number of customers aren’t outright canceling their streaming services when they run out of titles to watch — they’re pausing them.

The Big Picture: The uptick in people pausing their streamers instead of canceling them complicates the easy math of companies gaining and losing subscribers. Those numbers can ebb and flow at a moment’s notice if new content isn’t constantly debuting.

Behind The Scenes: Market-data firm Antenna crunched the numbers on how the hierarchy of power is changing (lol) in the streaming economy — the power of the pause.

• The median number of premium streaming subscribers who signed back up within a year increased from 29.8% to 34.2%.

• So, although there was a cumulative churn rate of 5.2% across platforms, it actually drops down to 3.5% when no longer counting people who resubscribe. That’s good news for the industry.

• But breaking down the data, Max appears to have the most pausers (31% of subscribers), while Netflix had the least (11%).

Closing Credits: Streamers are getting smart about the power of the pause. Hulu and Netflix allow customers to easily pause their subscriptions for up to three months, and Disney+ will be rolling out the ability soon. Why make it easier for customers to stop paying? Because when customers know they can just pause, it could keep them from canceling and then forgetting to resubscribe. Having payments restart takes out the friction of bringing the subscriber back into the fold.

As more streamers discover the trends behind the pauses, expect them to retool their release plans to minimize the subscriber impact each quarter and better remind past users when their favorite shows are returning.

Together with Superplastic

Finish Your Holiday Shopping Today

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DEEP DIVES

• Listen: The Town chats with filmmaker R.J. Cutler (Martha, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry) about the state of the celebrity doc.

• Watch: How does it feel to go a whole day just talking to chatbots? WSJ’s Joanna Stern pulls a Henry David Thoreau and heads to the woods with them to find out.

• Read: NYT profiles Alexander Reben — OpenAI’s first artist-in-residence.

77.5% of you voted Physical buttons in yesterday’s poll: Do you prefer physical buttons or touch controls on your devices?

“Tactile feedback is far more satisfying, and the novelty of tapping a digital button has long worn off.”

“I’ve been buying used smartphones for years to still have access to physical buttons (and headphone jacks) as long as possible.”

“We have an induction cooktop with touch controls and a stove with an induction surface that has knobs; the knobs are much nicer. The touch controls are affected if your hot pad lightly brushes them, forcing you to reset them. Tapping < turning.”

“This is a yes/no for me. Touch controls for phones and portable devices. Buttons for cars and larger things. Touch screens were not thought out for safety. Better yet, how about talking to your car to tell it what you want. No touching or buttoning!”

“Although I rail against any changes to technology, I quickly become accustomed and just move on.”

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

🏆 Beyoncé is now the most Grammy-nominated artist in history with 99 nods (and 32 wins).

🎞️ Former National Association of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian is connecting filmmakers directly with cinemas for his next act, starting with You, Me and Her.

🛡️ The Roman Colosseum — yes, where gladiators fought — is now on Airbnb.

→ Fashion / E-commerce

🤑 Swedish BNPL firm Klarna has filed for an IPO in the US at a potential $14.6 billion valuation.

💰 Marc Lore’s delivery company Wonder acquired rival Grubhub for $150 million in cash and the assumption of $500 million in debt.

👟 Artist Takashi Murakami launched his first footwear brand, Ohana Hatake.

→ Creator Economy

📱 Meta plans to roll out ads on Threads early next year.

🤳 YouTube is testing a TikTok-like interface.

💨 Bluesky has soared past 15 million followers as the X exodus continues.