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A YouTube executive needed only 27 minutes to make the case that the company is taking over all aspects of how people create and consume video online. That was the length of a recent talk by Fede Goldenberg, YouTube’s head of TV and film partnerships, at the StreamTV conference in Denver last month. Goldenberg’s presentation had an upbeat title, “YouTube is the new TV.” But the talk carried an unmistakable undertone: Resistance is futile. I happened to be at that conference to moderate a couple of panels, and I attended a bunch of other discussions and presentations while there, but Goldenberg’s talk is the one I’m still thinking about. While most of the conference was about streamers talking shop with one another, YouTube was there to argue that it would eventually subsume them. In some ways, it already has. The data Goldenberg came armed with data to underscore YouTubes dominance in the TV space. His most convincing talking point: Nielsen reports that YouTube now accounts for 12.4% of daily TV watch time in the U.S., up from 8.6% at the start of 2024. It surpassed Netflixnow a distant second at 7.5%more than two years ago. In addition: Some 2 billion people log into YouTube at least once per month and collectively watch more than 2 billion hours of video per day. Roughly 1 billion of those hours are watched on TVs every day. YouTube reaches 92% of 18- to 34-year-olds in the U.S. YouTube’s 33% of podcast listening in the U.S. now tops Spotify (27%) and Apple Podcasts (15%) in the U.S., according to Edison Research. “This company is only 20 years old, and it’s been able to really radically change the landscape of media,” Goldenberg said onstage. Stages of acceptance YouTube’s ascent is now forcing media companies to reckon with how they’re using the service. While those companies started off treating YouTube as just a marketing channel with sample episodes and clips, lately they’ve been slicing and dicing their back catalogs into new kinds of long-form content. Warner Bros. Discovery has hour-long Friends complications and the entire run of spin-off Joey. National Geographic has linear rerun streams and multi-hour marathon videos. NBCUniversal has even spun up entirely new brands such as Comedy Bites and Family Flicks to showcase its back catalog. “This is where we think the majority of sophisticated media companies operate today,” Goldenberg said. He believes that before long, those companies will start producing new content for YouTube specifically. In January, Nickelodeon debuted a new YouTube show for preschoolers called Kid Cowboy, bypassing Paramount’s own cable channels and streaming service. National Geographic has been creating original content for YouTube as well. And in Brazil, Endemol Shine Brasil produced a spin-off of MasterChef featuring top food influencers from the country. “My prediction is that we’re going to continue to see more and more original content made for YouTube first, and then it could be repurposed to TV,” Goldenberg told the audience. Creator cred While YouTube works on winning over major media companies, it’s also cultivating an army of smaller creators to replace them. Dhar Mann, a top creator of videos with a feel-good angle, now runs production on a 100,000-square-foot campus in Burbank. Alan Chikin Chow, who creates the high school anthology series Alan’s Universe, opened a 10,000-square-foot studio space in Los Angeles last year. Sports and comedy group Dude Perfect raised more than $100 million from Highmount Capital, a private investment firm, last year. Goldenberg delighted in pointing out a recent video on the creator channel Colin and Samir, in which Dude Perfect illustrated its business in a way that resembled the famous Disney flywheel from the 1950s. In that model, content feeds into other businesses such as merchandising, touring, and tourist destinations, which in turn feeds back into creating new content. “It’s no exaggeration to call these guys the new Hollywood,” Goldenberg said. YouTube also wants its most popular creators to get the same credibility as Hollywood producers. It’s lobbying for a few creators in particularSean Evans of Hot Ones; Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal, aka Rhett & Link, of Good Mythical Morning; and Michelle Khare of Challenge Acceptedto earn Emmy nominations. “This will be another line in the sand, when creators start to get nominated, and start to get accolades, just like traditional TV does,” Goldenberg said. Flaws in the machine Sitting through this presentation, I found myself simultaneously drinking the Kool-Aid and fearing the ingredient list. After all, paid streaming services are getting worse in pretty much every measurable way. Over time, they’ve removed content, restricted password sharing, made you pay more for better video quality, and started showing more ads than they originally promised. Even just figuring out what to watch is an ordeal, thanks to selfish business decisions and petty platform politics that get in the way of finding your content. All those annoyances work in YouTube’s favor. In an increasingly fragmented and frictional media landscape, here’s a free service that puts a growing body of content in one place, both from major media companies and new creators. While streaming catalogs are contracting, YouTube is adding 500 hours of content every minute. But of course, Goldenberg didn’t touch on the uglier side of that growth, in which creators must literally contort themselves to please YouTube’s algorithm and risk burning out in the process. And there was no mention of enshittification for viewers, who’ve been asked to tolerate more annoying ads and higher prices to avoid them. A world in which YouTube is the new TV, then, is one in which viewers and creators have less control than ever. “To me, the big issue with YouTube is that it’s a monopoly,” TVRev lead analyst Alan Wolk tells me. “If you somehow run afoul of them, you have no option. You’re out. They get to set all the rules.” YouTube’s TV takeover is still nowhere near complete. It has struggled for years to find a place for premium programming on its platform, and it’s unlikely that the biggest subscription-based streamersNetflix, Disney, Amazonwill ever embrace YouTube wholeheartedly. Even within Google, YouTube must contend with other fiefdoms with their own visions for the future of television. (There are signs YouTube may be winning, though; The Information recently reported that Google cut the budget for its Google TV streaming platform to focus more on YouTube.) Wolk says that while YouTube may envision itself as the Holy Roman Empire, a powerful force that wants to unify the television world, it might wind up being more like Constantinople, the lesser attempt that followed after Rome’s fall. “It’s on some level the next iteration of television,” he says, “but it’ll never have the same impact.”
Category:
E-Commerce
When a technology company undergoing a major reorganization asked us to support one of their senior leaders, the objective was clear: Help Andrew make this team work. The company had just flattened its structure. Fewer layers. Wider spans of control. A renewed focus on efficiency and getting back to basics. On paper, it looked like progress: cleaner org lines, leaner teams, faster decisions. But the reality was messy. Andrew had taken on responsibility for a newly formed departmenta blended group formed from two legacy product teams. Priorities were unclear. Systems outdated. Roles overlapped. Morale was low, and scrutiny from the top was higher than ever. The transformation trap Its not uncommon. According to McKinsey, fewer than one in three organizational transformations actually succeed in improving performance and sustaining those gains, even when leaders are well-intentioned and highly motivated. As leadership coaches, we see this frequently: talented, driven leaders set up to fail, not because they lack the skill or will, but because the systems they are asked to lead are misaligned. Too often, leaders are brought in to fix struggling teams but lack the authority to address whats actually broken: structure, goals, or even team composition. In theory, preserving institutional knowledge or deep technical expertise makes sense. In practice, it often means clinging to outdated priorities and unproductive dynamics. That’s why reorgs are so popular. They are fast, visible, and signal action. But shifting boxes on an org chart doesn’t address deeper performance issues. As McKinsey reports, companies that focus on structural changes, without also shifting behaviors, building capabilities, and evolving culture, rarely achieve lasting results. Unless you help people shift their mindsets, rebuild trust, and cocreate new ways of working, youve only moved the dysfunction around. And leaders are left managing a team thats misaligned, burned out, or unclear on their value. If results dont come swiftly, your team loses faith, and the C-suite questions your ability to lead. Through our work advising dozens of companies navigating high-stakes transformations, Kathryn, as an executive coach and keynote speaker, and Jenny, as an executive adviser and L&D expert, we have identified five critical moves that help leaders succeed. Whether you have just inherited a struggling team or you are preparing to lead through change, heres how to reset the foundation before the story writes itself. 1. Audit the System Before You Judge the People Stepping into leadership of an underperforming team usually comes with a baked-in narrative. Youre told they lack initiative, or arent strategic. When metrics are in the red, its easy to assume the issue is the people. But more often than not, the system is broken. When Andrews scope was expanded to include the newly formed department, they were perceived as helpful but inconsistent. They were responsive but struggling to make significant progress on key initiatives. Rather than default to performance assumptions, Andrew stepped back and audited the system. He uncovered vague goals, shifting priorities, and incentives that rewarded busyness over business impact. Once he clarified what mattered and aligned the teams work with what the business actually valued, both performance and reputation improved rapidly. Before judging individuals, ask: Are goals clear and achievable? Do people have the tools, decision rights, and autonomy to deliver? Are incentives aligned with strategic outcomes? Is the team working in silos or collaborating across the organization? Is the teams work seen and valued by the business? A team cant execute what it doesnt understand. Start by investigating and diagnosing the environment, not the people. As Deloitte emphasizes, leaders must go beyond surface-level restructuring by enabling teams to work differently and aligning systems with strategy. 2. Name Whats BrokenWithout Placing Blame As you get up to speed, dont go silent. Engage the team early. Most teams already know whats not working. Theyve just stopped saying it out loud because previous feedback was ignored or worse, weaponized. Your job is to surface how the system might be failing them. That requires curiosity, psychological safety, and a shift in tone. Instead of asking Whats wrong here? ask, Whats getting in the way of great work? Focus on processes, handoffs, and ways of workingnot personalities. Consider using the Start / Stop / Continue framework: What should we start doing to be more effective? What should we stop doing that no longer serves us? What should we continue doing thats working well? And remember: the reorg alone may trigger what we call F.U.D.Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. People may worry about whats changing, whether theyre valued, and if its safe to speak up. To build trust, bring in a neutral third party. Begin with an anonymous survey. Follow it with a facilitated group discussion that you briefly open, then step out of. This signals your commitment to listenig without defensiveness. When team members realize their colleagues share the same frustrations, the energy shifts. Clear thinking replaces frustration. Accountability increases and solutions emerge. This isnt just a diagnostic, its an inflection point. When teams feel heard and leaders act on what they hear, people begin to reengage. 3. Surface Strengths and Secure Early Wins Once the team starts speaking candidly, dont just fix problems. Find strengths. Even struggling teams hold valuable assets: institutional knowledge, strong relationships, or customer insights. Surface whats working, name it, and build on it. This boosts confidence and builds momentum. At the same time, make visible changes. Address obvious pain points. Remove duplicative work. Improve decision-making. Retire outdated processes. Look for two to three early wins that demonstrate, I heard you, and Im doing something about it. It might be simplifying handoffs across teams. Clarifying a decision bottleneck that frustrates everyone. Or creating a scorecard that communicates the teams results and impact. For Andrew, it meant aligning the teams priorities with what the business cared about most and providing a skills training workshop to help the team deliver. The shift was immediate: people felt more focused, confident, and seen. 4. Define What Progress Looks Like After a restructuring or leadership change, one question lingers: Is this working? Start by defining what progress looks like, before others define it for you. Dont wait for long-term KPIs. Identify a few short-term markers that signal success and that your team can rally around. One leader we coached focused on three simple indicators during her first 90 days: Reduced rework Fewer escalations after meetings Shorter turnaround times between handoff and next steps They were simple, measurable, and meaningful to the team. As progress builds, make it visible. Dont assume stakeholders will notice. Articulate clearly whats changing, why it matters, and whos driving that change. 5. Communicate Strategy Up, Down, and Across Once youve clarified whats changing, dont stop there. You need to communicate in all directions: Upward: Keep senior leaders informed about whats working, whats not, and what support you need. Dont assume they understand the lift. Share context, not complaints. Downward: Help your team connect the dots between new priorities and business outcomes. Remind them why it matters. Reinforce your strategy through ongoing conversations, not just onetime town halls. Across: Reset expectations with peers and cross-functional partners who may still be operating from old assumptions. Clarify whats changing and the new ways of working together. Strategy sticks when it’s reinforced with repetition, real examples, and ongoing dialogue. A plan that works Youve inherited a team mid-transition. Expectations are high. Trust is low. And the clock is ticking. You dont need all the answers, but you do need a plan. Audit the system. Invite candor. Surface strengths. Define success. Communicate with intention. Just like Andrew, your early moves matter. Thats how you turn a messy transition into a meaningful reset.
Category:
E-Commerce
As the creator economy continues to grow, brand trips have become a staple marketing strategy for consumer-facing brands, and B2B firms are starting to do the same. Adobe Express hosted a Summit in New York City for 46 creators. As an Adobe Express ambassador, I attended this summit, which focused on marketing and business, covering travel accommodations and offering early product updates, feedback sessions, and networking opportunities. Similarly, Semrush hosted an influencer weekend in 2024 for nearly a dozen creators in London paying for their travel, meals, and experiences. Just like their consumer-focused counterparts, these B2B companies hope hosting creators at exclusive events will lead them to speak highly of the brand, earn them positive coverage, and act as a source of real-time feedback. The big difference with B2B creators is that purchasing decisions in the workplace are often costly. As a result, there is a more nuanced and complex consideration. Brand trips are an emerging tactic in the B2B space. Heres how companies are doing it, the outcomes theyre driving, and the lessons that we can learn from companies hosting them. Why brand trips for B2B creators are gaining popularity The creator economy is expected to exceed, $2.71 trillion in revenue by 2037, according to Research Nester. This is because many influencers have become trusted voices who drive sales, even in complex B2B buying cycles. Opportunities for a brand to connect with relevant creators in person are a way of earning face time and introducing them to the team and product line. It also provides them with motivation and ways to collaborate, as well as hearing feedback from opinionated supporters. Nicole Ponce, Influencer Marketing Team Lead at Semrush says, Theres been a noticeable shift where B2B brands are adopting B2C-style engagement tactics, and brand trips are one of them. Substack and LinkedInwhere I teach marketing development and career development courseshave noticeably prioritized creators, encouraging everyone from CEOs and executives to industry experts and emerging voices to share content consistently. As LinkedIn is growing, B2B creators are starting to be a group of folks you can’t ignore, especially if your product is looking to target the B2B space, says Kate Olmstead, Adobe Express Community & Ambassador Programs Lead. Five years ago, we didn’t have this concept, really of top voices in marketing. LinkedIn creators with 250,000 followers, speaking to the likes of CMOs and VPs of marketing, says Olmstead. How to create a B2B brand trip where both sides benefit Establish what the focus of the event is, whether its the launch of a new product, a discussion on industry trends, or a celebration of a major milestone. It depends on the event, but typically well incorporate either a demo, product insight, or a workflow preview to spark interest. Sometimes its through more curated, two-way conversations, where we share whats launching and invite feedback from creators about what they need or see missing in the market, says Ponce. Typically, companies cover the creators travel accommodations, meals, and experiences in exchange for the creator posting on social media. Neither Adobe nor Semrush required posting to attend, which likely removed pressure for participants (who are likely to share on their own if they enjoyed the event). Olmstead says that Adobes trip aimed to introduce like-minded creators, offer early exposure to new features, and provide a forum for candid feedback. What also likely helps the creators buy in is the association with a big, well-known brand like Adobe. This boosts their careers as influencers and also provides the opportunity to network with others and the chance to stay in an appealing city for free. Invite creators based on relevance and consistency over reach Inviting a mix of creators across platforms, titles, career paths, and audience sizes can help ensure theres interesting conversation as long as theres a set of shared interests. I personally look at whether they create highly engaging, high-quality content and whether their audience is one that our brand wants to be associated with. But its not just about reach or follower count. We also look at how much value they bring to the roomand I mean that literally, says Ponce. We try to curate a space that fosters meaningful, peer-to-peer conversations. So we intentionally balance different expertise levelsfor instance, having a content marketing specialist alongside someone who focuses on paid advertising, she added. Create balanced programming thats educational and entertaining While its important that the brand benefits from hosting a group of creators, its important not to make the agenda too self-promotional or jam-packed. There needs to be room for fun. While the creator expects to learn about the companys products, its also important to be clear on how the event benefits them. You’ve got to have substance to [a brand trip], whether that be through the learning agenda, the educational content, or giving something back to them, in terms of bringing an industry expert that can help them level up their own businesses, adds Olmstead. Brand trips that strike the balance deliver qualitative outcomes like the attendees leaving with a positive impression of the brand, as well as quantitative impacts like social mentions and reach. You might just find that your business benefits.
Category:
E-Commerce
Calls to boycott Etsy are growing since Alligator Alcatraz merch popped up on its marketplace. The term refers to the Trump administration’s new migrant detention facility in the Florida Everglades. The detention facility, built from Federal Emergency Management Agency trailers and temporary shelters at the site of a training airport in Miami-Dade County, is in the middle of a natural alligator habitat. It has drawn condemnation from tribal, environmental, and civil rights groups. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida called the facility part of a broader strategy to expand the abusive mass detention machine, and in turn, criminalize and disappear members of our communities.” It has not drawn condemnation, though, from Etsy, which claims to prohibit “content which directly or indirectly contains violent or degrading commentary” against people over traits like their race, religion, gender, or immigration status. The availability of “Alligator Alcatraz” merchandise on the site has inspired calls for boycotts on social media that have received thousands of reactions. Etsy did not respond to a request for comment. [Screenshot: Etsy] Etsy’s terms of service around discrimination and hateful content are broad, with the term indirectly allowing for enforcement against veiled, coded, and subtle violations. Considering the derisive and violent nature of how President Trump and his supporters have spoken about the facility, “Alligator Alcatraz” seems to fall under the policy’s generous umbrella. When Trump toured the detention facility last week, he joked that detainees would learn “how to run away from an alligator if they escape prison.” Much of Etsy’s “Alligator Alcatraz” merch has the look of AI-generated slop, which is at odds with the company’s recent push to highlight human-made products. And it’s not clear how much of an audience there is for this stuff. A 53% majority of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s handling of immigration, according to a Yahoo/YouGov poll, and Etsy pages for “Alligator Alcatraz” products don’t suggest robust sales, with low views and few notes indicating products had been purchased or put into carts. There’s also competition, with official Florida Republican Party “Alligator Alcatraz” merch and more options on Amazon. It’s clear Etsy understands the art of political subtly when it comes to the left- and right-leaning political categories it organizes for T-shirts with quiet, hidden political messages. For merch celebrating Trump’s new detention facility, though, that understanding suddenly seems lost.
Category:
E-Commerce
In the age of climate change, many people are trying to consume more mindfully. When it comes to fashion, this often means buying fewer clothes and wearing them longer. But that’s a hard principle to follow with children’s clothing. Kids grow out of garments quickly; they also rip and stain clothes with abandon. It’s tempting to buy them cheap clothes that you won’t mind throwing out after a few wears. And it’s easy to do exactly that when fast fashion for kids is abundant, everywhere from Target to H&M. Now, a new platform wants to make it equally easy for parents and kids to shop secondhand clothing. Rebecca Bahmani [Photo: courtesy Prelove Me] Today, Prelove Me unveils a membership-based platform that allows you to buy and sell used clothing exclusively for kids. And unlike other secondhand clothing websites like ThredUp and Poshmark, Prelove Me doesn’t transact in money but in credits. You get credits for sending in clothes, which you can then use to buy other products on the site. “In the age of fast fashion, it’s easy to think of clothes as disposable,” says Rebecca Bahmani, Prelove You’s founder. “We’re trying to push back against this by teaching them that their clothes have actual value, which they can use to buy other clothes.” The planet is drowning in clothing Some experts estimate that fashion brands produce upwards of 100 billion garments every year, for only eight billion humans. Producing these clothes consumes enormous quantities of raw materials like cotton and oil, and is responsible for up to 8.6% of the world’s global greenhouse gas footprint. There are now many companies like Circ and Repreve that are developing technology that will enable us to recycle old clothes into new ones, which is far less environmentally damaging than making new clothes from scratch. But until this kind of recycling is widespread, a more sustainable approach is buying used clothes. After all, there are already enough garments on the planet to clothe humanity for decades into the future. [Image: courtesy Prelove Me] With Prelove Me, Bahmani wanted to create a platform that would make it easier for families to access secondhand clothing for their kids. To shop the site, you must first become a member. There are three tiers of membership, ranging from $35 a month to $95 a month, that gives you access to between 30 and 75 credits every month. Clothes are priced based on their quality and brand. A Rockets of Awesome bomber jacket is 21 credits, a pair of Vans velcro sneakers is 31 credits. “A membership makes sense because families need to buy clothes for their kids on a regular basis,” she says. “Kids outgrow things quickly, and they have specific needs, like swimsuits for the summer.” Bahmani, who previously worked at a lace manufacturer called Klauber Brothers, Inc., bootstrapped the company. She spent years collecting the initial inventory by asking for donations to launch the site. But the company is also raising funds to allow it to scale, particularly when it comes to automating the logistics of receiving secondhand clothes, uploading them to the website, then sending them out to customers. ThredUp, a secondhand website that generated $260 million in revenue last year, has scaled thanks to its high-tech, highly automated warehouses. [Image: courtesy Prelove Me] To continue growing the platform’s inventory, members are invited to send in all the clothes that their kids have outgrown. They will get credits based on the quality of the garment. Clothes from designer brands and those in excellent or unworn condition will get more credits than those from mass market brands and clothes that show more wear and tear. But the website accepts clothes from all brands, including fast fashion labels like Shein. Bahmani point out that even clothes with a cheap price tag take a lot of resources to make, and it is just as important to keep them out of landfills. Bahmani wanted to make sure that families felt comfortable sending in clothes that are unwearable. Prelove will offer one credit for these clothes, and will send them to be upcycled at a company that produces housing insulation. “We’re trying to teach kids to dispose of clothes responsibly,” Bahmani says. “Upcycling is much better than just throwing them in a landfill. And in time, we’ll be looking at fabric-to-fabric recycling.” [Photo: courtesy Prelove Me] Teaching Kids Good Habits Prelove You’s website is designed to be fun, interactive, and simple enough for kids to use. The number of credits required to buy a product are clearly marked, and it’s easy to “favorite” products. And because it focuses exclusively on kid’s clothes, it is easier for kids to navigate. “Kids often want to be involved with choosing their own clothes,” she says. “We wanted to make the experience fun for them.” More broadly, however, her goal is to help instill more responsible shopping habits in kids. This website is supposed to make shopping pre-owned just as fun as shopping new. It’s also designed to give children a tangible sense of what a circular economy looks like, where clothes are kept in circulation as long as possible. There’s some evidence that young people are more willing to buy thrifted goods than previous generation: 83% of Gen Z is willing to shop pre-owned, and the global secondhand market has increased by more than a third in recent years. But at the same time, young people responsible for the explosion in ultra fast fashion brands like Shein and Temu. Many teens and twentysomethings now buy enormous quantities of clothesor “hauls”from cheap retailers and share them on social media. Bahmani believes that there is still time to shape the shopping habits of younger kids, so they grow up to be the kinds of people who understand the value of clothing and live more sustainably. “If they grow up being excited about shopping preowned, they’re likely to become adults who do the same,” she says.
Category:
E-Commerce
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