The Grip is a newsletter that compiles essential news and insights for bold healthcare marketers, brought to you by Grippi Media.
Content creation is big business and Amazon is looking to cash in.
With viewership and engagement at an all-time high on channels like YouTube and Twitch, everyday content creators are now key players in shaping trends and influencing purchasing decisions.
Amazon has taken note, as the company announced it acquired a minority stake in Spotter, aiming to deepen their connections with top influencers and funnel more traffic to Prime Video.
The TL;DR on Spotter: They offer YouTube creators upfront funding in exchange for a share of ad revenue from their existing content. Additionally, they provide resources to help creators expand their fanbase and turn their channels into profitable brands.
In issue 21 of The Grip, we’re breaking down what Amazon’s investment means for the creator economy and exploring how brands are tapping into the power of content creators.
Side Note: I’m well aware of the big announcements in the search engine world this past week—especially OpenAI’s surprise late-day Halloween reveal about rolling out its AI search engine to a limited audience. But with two kids itching to get out and trick-or-treat, I’ve decided to save my thoughts for next week’s issue. Stay tuned!
Other stories from this issue include:
👉 Meta Is Reportedly Developing Its Own AI-Powered Search Engine
👉 Google’s Upcoming Update Won’t Help Recover Lost Traffic
👉 Instagram is Lowering Video Quality for Unpopular Videos
👉 OpenAI Disbands Another Team Focused on Artificial General Intelligence Safety
👉 YouTube Tests New Homepage Without Dates or View Counts
👉 Google Creating an AI Agent to Use Your PC on Your Behalf
👉 LinkedIn Launches Its First AI Agent to Take On Job Recruitment
👉 Eli Lilly and Company to Advertise Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound
👉 Why Account-Based Marketing Thrives in B2B Healthcare
All this and much more in issue 21 of The Grip!
I Can’t Believe That’s a Keyword
Using Semrush, we hunt down bizarre (and totally real) search queries and try to answer them.
This Week’s Keyword: Why Can't You Wear Lululemon in an MRI
Avg. Monthly Search Volume: 70
Answer: It sounds a bit wild, but it’s true: some athletic wear (not just lululemon) contains metallic fibers that can actually heat up and burn your skin when exposed to an MRI. They can also interfere with image quality, but I think that's secondary to the risk of scorching your flesh.
Top Stories We’re Tracking
Essential marketing and healthcare headlines of the week.
Amazon Invests in Digital Content Creator Company, Spotter
Amazon has acquired a minority stake in Spotter, a company that supports digital creators by providing upfront funding, resources, and software to grow their channels. This investment not only deepens Amazon’s involvement in the creator economy but also opens new business channels for Spotter’s roster of top influencers, like MrBeast and Dude Perfect .
Since being founded in 2019, Spotter has already paid out over $940 million to YouTube creators, offering them cash in exchange for licensing rights and share of ad revenue from existing content.
This model has proven successful, with Spotter's extensive portfolio generating over 88 billion monthly watch-time minutes, primarily on connected TVs.
My two cents: It's a brilliant move by Amazon. The Amazon Influencer Program, which allows influencers of varying sizes to earn commission by promoting Amazon products, has been a success. Through its investment in Spotter, it can strengthen its foothold with with high-stakes content creators and scale their success for greater impact.
Brands partnering with creators isn’t new, but actually investing in their growth is a fresh approach. The key to success lies in Spotter's partnership criteria. It only works with creators who already have strong, engaged audiences, high-quality content, and monetized video catalogs. So, this isn’t about nurturing beginners—it’s about scaling established creators.
📄 Read Article (Source: Variety)
Meta Is Reportedly Developing Its Own AI-Powered Search Engine
Meta is reportedly developing an AI-powered search engine designed to compete with Google, focusing on integrating generative AI to enhance user experience and refine search results.
They aim to provide more intuitive and contextually relevant answers to queries, moving beyond traditional keyword searches.
Does anybody really want this?
📄 Read Article (Source: The Verge)
Google’s Upcoming Update Won’t Help Recover Lost Traffic
Google's next algorithm update is imminent, but past traffic declines may not see recovery.
At a recent Web Creator Summit, Google acknowledged challenges with their algorithms, suggesting that content quality isn't the sole factor affecting rankings.
They encouraged creators to pursue new projects, as recovery might not be realistic for all sites.
The general sentiment among attendees leaned towards moving on, highlighting the uncertainty in the current search marketing landscape for many web creators.
Google’s relationship with the SEO community and search users seems to be fraying, with erratic ranking fluctuations becoming more common despite promises of improvement. Instead of offering clear solutions for recovering lost traffic, Google has often left marketers feeling dismissed, with little guidance beyond "move on."
This is less than ideal as Google faces increasing competition in the search space. Challenging times for us all, eh?
📄 Read Article (Source: Search Engine Land)
Instagram is Lowering Video Quality for Unpopular Videos
Instagram is adjusting video quality based on video popularity, with higher-quality processing reserved for videos that sustain more views. Videos that quickly lose engagement are shown in slightly lower resolution to optimize platform resources.
Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, explained that this decision aims to balance storage costs with viewership trends. While some argue it unfairly benefits popular creators, Mosseri contends that content appeal has a far greater impact on engagement than resolution does, suggesting that the quality difference remains minimal.
Naturally, many worry that this change could stifle smaller creators even further.
However, I don’t think it will. Some of the most viral videos on Instagram actually have lower production quality than the platform’s new standards might suggest, proving that content resonance defies technical finesse.
📄 Read Article (Source: Tech Crunch)
OpenAI Disbands Another Team Focused on AGI Safety
OpenAI recently disbanded its AGI Readiness Team, which focused on safety protocols for advanced AI systems.
Team members were reassigned within the company, and Miles Brundage, the outgoing AGI Readiness advisor, voiced concerns over a lack of preparedness for safe AGI development.
The disbanding follows other safety-focused team closures, prompting some to worry OpenAI may be prioritizing product development over rigorous safety measures, especially given tech companies’ resistance to stricter AI regulations.
📄 Read Article (Source: THE DECODER)
YouTube Tests New Homepage Without Dates or View Counts
YouTube is testing a new homepage layout that removes view counts and upload dates, displaying only thumbnails, titles, and channel names.
This change, reported by vidIQ, has sparked mixed reactions. While some users think removing these metrics could reduce bias against videos with low views, others feel that dates and view counts are essential for choosing relevant, up-to-date content.
YouTube confirmed it is investigating feedback on this design test.
📄 Read Article (Source: Dexerto)
Google Creating an AI Agent to Use Your PC on Your Behalf
Google is reportedly developing an AI assistant capable of performing tasks on users' PCs autonomously, including browsing and managing applications.
Known internally as "Project Jarvis," this AI aims to handle tasks like form-filling, data compilation, and even purchasing actions, potentially enhancing productivity and accessibility.
However, this level of system access raises privacy and security concerns, as the AI could interact with sensitive data.
If successful, this technology could simplify digital workflows but would likely require stringent safeguards to address user safety and data privacy.
📄 Read Article (Source: Tom's Hardware)
LinkedIn Launches Its First AI Agent to Take On Job Recruitment
LinkedIn recently launched its first AI-driven agent for job recruiting, aiming to streamline candidate sourcing and improve recruitment efficiency.
The tool, part of LinkedIn’s new “Recruiter 2024” suite, leverages generative AI to help recruiters identify ideal candidates, customize outreach messages, and manage initial interactions.
The AI agent is designed to reduce repetitive tasks, allowing recruiters to focus on more strategic hiring aspects.
📄 Read Article (Source: Tech Crunch)
Eli Lilly to Advertise Weight-Loss Drug Zepbound
Eli Lilly and Company plans to start advertising its recently FDA-approved weight-loss drug, Zepbound, soon.
The drug contains tirzepatide, which acts on GLP-1 and GIP receptors, leading to significant weight loss—up to 20.9% at higher doses, outperforming other drugs like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy.
Lilly aims to make Zepbound affordable through discounted programs, offering it at half the cost of other GLP-1 treatments for obesity.
With a prescription required, the drug is targeted toward treating chronic obesity rather than cosmetic weight loss, and Lilly is actively promoting better access through insurance collaborations to meet the rising demand for obesity treatments.
📄 Read Article (Source: Yahoo Finance)
The Latest from Grippi Media
Recent articles and videos from the Grippi Media Blog.
Why Account-Based Marketing Thrives in B2B Healthcare
Enterprise sales cycles in healthcare are long, often stretching to 18 months or more. This makes it tough for sales and marketing teams to maintain momentum.
That’s why Account Based Marketing (ABM) has become so popular with B2B healthcare marketers in recent years.
ABM is all about aligning your sales and marketing teams to focus on targeting high-value, dream clients instead of marketing to the masses.
A joint study between Adobe Marketo and ReachForce found that companies using ABM can boost deal-closing rates by up to 67%.
That can go a long way for a long sales cycle!
In the latest blog post for Grippi Media, we dive into how ABM helps B2B healthcare marketers drive better results with providers, payers, and employers.
Our Latest Podcasts
Recent episodes of the podcasts that we produce.
Is the AI Bubble Ready to Burst?
It seems like AI is all the rage, with a near never-ending flow of new promises about its capabilities.
This is evident in the rapid growth of the sector, with Statista reporting that the AI market is projected to reach nearly $2 trillion by 2030.
As AI becomes more integrated into our lives, many believe it will revolutionize nearly every industry, with healthcare being one of them.
Ed Zitron is not one of those people.
In this episode of CareTalk Podcast: Healthcare. Unfiltered., David E. Williams speaks with Ed Zitron, CEO of EZPR, on why he believes AI is a bubble ready to burst and the ramifications of AI on everything from patient care to climate change.
Protecting Healthcare Workers with Wearable Safety Tech
Healthcare workers are frequently subjected to verbal and even physical abuse.
According to PBS, healthcare workers are five times more likely to experience workplace violence than other professions.
So, how do we keep them safe?
In this week’s episode of HealthBiz Briefs, guest Shan Sinha, Co-Founder and CEO of Canopy, discusses the dangers facing healthcare professionals and how duress alert systems can improve safety in hospitals and at-home patient care.
Easing Cancer Treatment with Personalized Nutrition
Fact: 80% of cancer patients experience substantial side effects during their treatment, which can negatively impact their outcomes and complicate an already challenging journey as they fight for their lives.
In this episode of Health Care Rounds: A Darwin Research Group podcast, we’re joined by Erika Ebbel Angle, CEO of Ixcela, to discuss her personalized approach to improving cancer patient treatment outcomes by prioritizing gut health, nutritional therapy, and lifestyle adjustments.
Precision Medicine for Neurodegenerative Diseases, with Brian Pepin from Rune Labs
Rune Labs is pioneering the use of real-world data to revolutionize therapy development for neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's. In this episode, Mike Tarselli 🔸, Specialist Leader - HCLS Data & AI at AWS, talks to Brian Pepin, CEO of Rune Labs, about the company's innovative approach to digital biomarkers and how they're working to make a difference in the lives of patients.
What We’re Listening To
New music that has been inspiring us.
Vincent's Pick: The Misfits - Static Age
If it's Halloween, it's gotta be The Misfits.
Static Age, IMO, is the pinnacle of everything I love about this iconic band.
I was sure The Misfits would be one of those rare bands that wouldn’t jump on the “unlikely reunion” bandwagon. But I’m glad they did. And I'm glad I got to witness it live, in their home state of New Jersey.
Sal's Pick: Tyler, The Creator - CHROMAKOPIA
CHROMAKOPIA is both a return to his signature style at its best and a dedication to experimentation. Throughout, Tyler, the Creator showcases his signature eclecticism while diving into themes of fame and self-identity.
The album blends hip-hop, jazz, and R&B, with the lead single "NOID" highlighting its sparse instrumentation and mature, self-reflective lyrics. Tyler's experimentation shines throughout, making this one of his most ambitious and unique projects yet.
The entire album reflects his growth as an artist, ensuring that CHROMAKOPIA is not just another entry to his discography, but a statement of where he is as an artist and where he wants to go.
Don't forget to check out our 2024 Digital Health Inbound Marketing Report:
Thanks for reading! See you next week! 👋
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