dear media is winning MAHA
thoughts on that new acquisition?
Hi and welcome back to as seen on.
I watched The Materialists this weekend and am sad to report I didn’t enjoy it. Some stunning shots, though. It wasn't as smart as it clearly wanted to be — definitely not smart enough to make its lack of humor forgivable. I’m open to differing opinions but I’m pretty sure I’m right.
In today’s newsletter: Lauren Sánchez lore, a celebrity brand filed for IPO, NikeSkims delays, Liquid Death is fundraising, Air Mail is looking for a publishing partner; Netflix’s loss is Apple’s gain; niche TV is the new peak TV; Dear Media’s MAHA acquisition; Better Brand is getting sued; Chanel is launching a magazine, and a bunch of other stuff.
Let’s get this out of the way: I wasn’t planning to write about DryBar founder Alli Webb’s new brand Messy, but then I check out the website today and now I have to ask — what insight is driving founders to name their products this way?
Reddit is in talks to use the Sam Altman owned iris-scanning Orb, World ID, to let users verify they’re real while keeping their anonymity. Good on Altman for being the problem and the solution.
Snap has acquired Saturn, a social calendar app for college and high school students. Saturn allows users to share their schedules with friends and make plans in real time. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but this is in line with Snap repositioning from a social media app to a souped-up communications app. “Friends over followers” sort of thing. Snap says the two companies will work together to “foster more real-world connection.” Every other thought that comes to mind about Snap is that they really should be building on the leverage they have with Gen Alpha set, because as far as I know, that's the only demographic where they have a real advantage. The younger teens love Snap.
had a really good post on how she grew to 100k Snapchat followers in less than a year.A.I. is making you dumber, according to every other Substack Note on my feed this weekend. Probably true, but also maybe don’t quote that MIT study that surveyed only 54 subjects and is not peer-reviewed. Read the article first!
If writing this newsletter has taught me anything, it's that every other week a new report will come out claiming that social media and screen time is in fact very bad for teen mental health, and no one will do anything about it beyond debating the technicalities. Sigh.
