🚁 Helicoptering goes casual

Is chasing TikTok a mistake for YouTube?

Given TikTok’s massive success, other platforms — e.g., Amazon, Spotify, Instagram, and YouTube — have responded by repeatedly attempting to copy the short-form video app.

But is it even a good strategy? At YouTube, some senior staffers reportedly have their doubts.

Why’s that?

YouTube’s answer to TikTok is Shorts: videos up to 60 seconds long that users can create and upload with their phones, replete with in-app editing tools.

Since launching in 2021, Shorts has gained 2B+ users, but some insiders worry that it’s come at the expense of YouTube’s long-form content, per The Financial Times.

Longer videos are more lucrative for YouTube as they:

• Have more room for more ads
• Receive higher click-through rates

Meanwhile, creators — who receive 45% of net revenue for Shorts compared to 55% for longer videos — may not care because they’re quicker and easier to make, and brands both like and are willing to pay for them.

Does YouTube have a choice?

Maybe not if it wants to keep up with consumer tastes, especially those of Gen Z and millennial users. But it might not be all bad.

After three consecutive quarters of declining ad revenue, sales rose 4.4% to $7.7B in Q2.

And as 9to5Google points out, YouTube has more than just long-form video and Shorts, diversifying its podcast, music, and TV offerings (e.g., YouTube TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket).

Shorts…

… as easy as they are to watch, may also serve as a gateway to other content, per McKinsey & Co.

• TikTok’s #BookTok, which touts 174B+ views, helped sell 20m additional books in 2021, implying that users’ attention spans are just fine when it’s something they’re genuinely interested in.
• Fifty-nine percent of Gen Z users use short-form video to find content they want to explore via long-form video.

A video that Shorts can never replace: This 10-hour crab rave.

Oof: Analysts say the writers’ and actors’ strikes have cost California’s economy $5B so far, affecting not just the entertainment industry, but caterers, dry cleaners, transport companies, and more.

Goldman Sachs is growing more optimistic about the US economy, saying a recession is just 15% likely, down from its previous 20% odds, citing reduced inflation and a strong labor market.

Novo Nordisk has unseated luxury purveyor LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company. Driving the Danish drugmaker’s rise? Demand for its weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.

Spotify will reportedly restrict white noise podcasts from its Ambassador Ads program starting Oct. 1, as such streams are for background noise, not active listening.

The Hawaii Tourism Authority is encouraging travel anywhere but West Maui burn areas to avoid “an economic downturn.” The wildfires have cost the state ~$9m/day due to a decline in tourism.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is the first recipient of Indonesia’s “Golden Visa,” which offers foreign investors priority screening, longer stays, and other perks across the island nation.

China’s Baidu announced 10+ new AI tools, including a word processor and a traffic management product, just days after releasing its chatbot Ernie to the public.

Strong Arm: Chip designer Arm updated its IPO paperwork yesterday, seeking a value up to $52B. The firm has already gone down this road before — it was public prior to 2016.

Busted: An ancient Roman bust was seized from a Massachusetts museum by New York authorities, the latest in an investigation tracking art objects looted from Turkey.

Dunkin’ who? Chinese coffee chain Luckin Coffee teamed up with Kweichow Moutai — maker of China’s national liquor — to release an alcoholic “sauce-flavored latte.”

Remote work is here to stay. But as it evolves, what can companies and employees expect? The HubSpot blog researched top remote work trends to watch in 2023 and beyond.

Zachary Crockett

Meet the forgotten father of pumpkin beer

Over the past few decades, American consumers have been bombarded with pumpkin spice kombucha, pumpkin spice dental dog treats, and even pumpkin-scented office phones.

But 40 years ago pumpkin products were not a joke. They were not oversaturated. They were obscure, as hipster as cauliflower.

Back then, there was no pumpkin beer, which, combined with other fall beers like Oktoberfests, is worth ~$1B today, according to an estimate from the Brewers Association.

In the beer world, pumpkin is a divisive ingredient. A few years back, “Saturday Night Live” featured a sketch of Bostonians trying the Sam Adams Jack-O Pumpkin Ale — a beverage that prompted comedian Bill Burr to yell out, “The fuck is that?!”

It’s inescapable today, but pumpkin’s rise as a flavoring in food, drink, and everything else may never have happened without Bill Owens, a Guggenheim Fellow turned failure turned craft beer rebel.

Years before Starbucks turned pumpkin spice into a billion-dollar business, this rebellious photographer’s experiment brought pumpkin beer to life — and ushered in America’s pumpkin-flavored industry.

🟠 INBOUND tips off today 🟠

The most baller business conference of the year is happening in Boston. If you’re at INBOUND, or on your way — congratulations.

The rest of y’all: Please join us for today’s livestream featuring top entrepreneurs including Steven Bartlett, Neil Patel, and Morgan DeBaun from the Main Stage!

Derek Jeter, Kim Scott, Andrew Huberman, and other luminary leaders will also be speaking on the three-day livestream, available today through Friday. (Just save this link to the HubSpot YouTube channel.)

Over 20 Main Stage sessions will be broadcast, no registration required.

Only stop by if you like it when light bulbs pop up in your head.

Just because you can easily fly this new helicopter doesn’t mean you should

America’s love of freedom knows few limits. That’s great.

But the freedom to crash a helicopter whenever you damn well please was one freedom we were quite OK living without.

Alas:

• In July, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a rule that’d reclassify certain helicopters as “light-sport aircraft,” making them far more accessible.
• Two companies, Advanced Tactics and Rotor X, have already teamed up on a two-seater whirlybird poised to take advantage of the new proposal.
• Their upcoming ATRX-700 model has simplified flight controls and caters to rookie pilots.

And we mean rookies

If the eased FAA regulation clears its review period in October, anyone with a valid driver’s license, 30 hours of flight training, and the means to acquire a copter will be able to fly the ATRX-700, per Robb Report.

• The barrier to entry is lower than you’d think — $188k for the helo, plus ~$9k to train at Advanced Tactics’ California facilities.

Light-sport crafts — think gyroplanes and powered parachutes — are subject to fewer regulations as they’re limited in weight, speed, altitude, and distance.

• The ATRX-700 is still no slouch in those categories: it weighs 1.7k pounds, reaches speeds of up to 100 mph, flies up to 16k feet, and has a 300-mile range.

Recreational crafts…

… make up the bulk of the FAA’s sport category, and though these choppers are now in this limited-training club, make no mistake — like all other craft (air, land, or sea), they can be dangerous to operate.

But you can preorder one for early 2025 delivery if you want. It’s “available in selected colors and interiors,” though it’s still unclear what shades it’ll come in.

Whatever color you choose… we’d love to never see it. No flying those things near our homes, please.

🇬🇧 On this day: In 1997, ~2.5B people watched Princess Diana’s funeral on TV, while hundreds of thousands mourned her in London’s streets.

🧑‍💻 That’s interesting: The Mirai botnet had devastating hacking potential. Its inventors were… three teenage boys?

👀 Watch: Marketing Against the Grain’s Kipp and Kieran discuss how OpenAI changed the enterprise AI business with ChatGPT Enterprise, how to build unique use cases by partnering with the best large language model, and what two things will kill your business.

🖼️ Art: Explore Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum online.

🐕 Aww: And now, what do you think he’s dreaming about?

Life hack: 5pm is more doable when you tell everyone you work on Hawaiian Standard Time. (Link)