Building awareness on digital audio, Meta loses out on new ETF and Neil Young vs Joe Rogan

A round-up of what everyone is talking about right now. Once a week. Maybe more, if we have time. Be more interesting. Everything you need to know is this.

‍

This week, Spotify shares helpful insights into how to build brand awareness with digital audio content while its own brand takes a hit and Mark Zuckerberg turns into a verb. 

1. Digital audio content is having a zeitgeist moment.

If your goal is to connect with an audience and make your products relevant to people’s lives, you need a digital audio strategy. That’s the recent claim of global streaming platform Spotify, which believes brands need to tap into digital audio content’s zeitgeist moment. And it has given us three key ways to do just that.

1. Leverage context by matching your brand to audio that attracts your target audience.
2. Reach people where they are by delivering ads between the songs and podcasts they love to hear.
3. Personalise your audio content to people’s interests and preferences. 

And if you need any convincing: on Spotify alone, digital audio has the potential to provide brands with access to an audience of around 220 million people per month.

2.  Don’t get Zucked up.

A new ETF has entered the metaverse by demoting Mark Zuckerberg as the poster boy of the sector. The creators of ‘Punk’, which will track globally listed stocks in companies involved in metaverse infrastructure and applications, have said they don’t believe Zuckerberg is the best custodian of the digital future and want the industry to develop without getting ‘zucked-up’. Not only will the actively managed ETF avoid buying Meta, it has taken a small short position against the stock. Yikes.

3. In the name of truth, it’s me or him.

Spotify is at the centre of a high-profile row over covid misinformation after it chose to remove Neil Young from the platform. It comes after Young issued the company with an ultimatum, saying it was either him or Joe Rogan, who he argued had been spreading false information about Covid in his podcast. 

In an open letter to the public, the musician said Spotify had become ‘the home of life threatening Covid misinformation’, selling lies for money, and that he would be willing to lose 60% of his worldwide streaming income in the name of truth. 

Supporters and fans of Young have called for people to boycott the streaming service, with the hashtags #CancelSpotify and #IStandWithYoung trending last week. Young’s ultimatum comes off the back of an open letter signed by 270 medical professionals calling out Rogan and Spotify for the exact same thing.