Snap CEO endorses Elon Musk's "super app" strategy for Twitter

Snap Inc. co-founder and CEO Evan Spiegel on Monday endorsed Elon Musk's plans to turn Twitter into a "super app," or an app that provides multiple services in one mobile interface, citing Snapchat's own ambitions in that arena. Why it matters: While some tech companies build or acquire separate apps for different services across their portfolio, like Meta or Google, Spiegel said, "We see the power in diversifying engagement across our service.""[W]hen you've diversified engagement across a wide variety of products in the same application, that can really strengthen your business," he said.Driving the news: In an interview with Axios at the annual Cannes Lions advertising festival in France, Spiegel noted that while he's learned "not to predict" Musk's strategy, "when he talks about Twitter as a super app, I think that's an idea that's really compelling.""I think he's seeing a lot of what we saw in Asia, for example, and a lot of what we've tried to build."Between the lines: Musk's $44 billion Twitter takeover effort has been viewed with skepticism by some who think he won't take the job seriously or isn't actually interested in completing the deal, and optimism by others who belie...
— (Axios) (June 21)   (Pocket)

: Netflix co-CEO Sarandos says streaming service is bringing ads to platform

“We’ve left a big customer segment off the table, which is people who say, ‘Hey, Netflix NFLX, +5.03% is too expensive for me and I don’t mind advertising,'” Sarandos said at the Cannes Lions advertising festival in a conversation with Sway podcast host Kara Swisher. “We’re adding an ad tier; we’re not adding ads to Netflix as you know it today. We’re adding an ad tier for folks who say, ‘Hey, I want a lower price and I’ll watch ads.'”
— (Market Watch) (June 25)   (Pocket)

Who’s Headed to VidCon; Facebook Extends Fee-Free Creator Tools

It’s a busy week for conferences touching various areas of the creator economy, from advertising at the Cannes Lions Festival in France to crypto topics at NFT NYC and, of course, the Super Bowl of the influencer industry, VidCon in Anaheim, Calif. While I’m at VidCon, my colleague Mark Di Stefano is on the ground in Cannes and Mahira Dayal is hobnobbing with the NFT crowd.A somber reality hanging over all of these conferences: how a potential recession will set back the creator economy, which has been on a tear during the pandemic. Most creators rely on sponsorship deals with brands as their top revenue sources. Advertisers often scale back during economic downturns, although it’s still unclear to what extent they’ll lower their spending on influencers.“We are in uncertain economic times right now. There are questions about [a] recession and brands spending on marketing,” said Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at Insider Intelligence. “We don’t have a perfect lens on it yet.”
— (The Information) (June 21)   (Pocket)