The Best One Yet - 🧙 “Cyclops are Hot” — “Romantasy'' is driving book sales. NBA should go Inter-continental. Etsy human-touch rule.

Episode Date: July 15, 2024

“Romantasy” (romance + fantasy) delivered books their first year of sales growth in 3 years.The NBA’s new TV deal is worth $76B over 11-years… now we think it should got inter-continental with 2 expansion teams.Etsy just announced a major turnaround plan… “Keeping Commerce Human”.Plus, one casino is shutting down in Vegas… but legally has to give away $1.6M in prizes first.$ETSY $AMZN $NWSASubscribe to our Saturday Newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletter  Watch us on YouTube Submit Facts & Shoutouts Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn (Nick) & LinkedIn (Jack)About Us: From the creators of Robinhood Snacks Daily, The Best One Yet (TBOY) is the daily pop-biz news show making today’s top stories your business. 20 minutes on the 3 business, economics, and finance stories you need, with fresh takes you can pretend you came up with — Pairs perfectly with your morning oatmeal ritual. Hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.00:00 - intro02:11 - Gambling04:59 - Inter-continental10:17 - Etsy human-touch rule14:44 - “Romantasy'' is driving book sales19:00 - Takeaways19:54 - OTHER NEWS!21:41 - Best Fact Yet22:34 - Shout Outs14:20 - “Romantasy'' is driving book sales18:36 - Takeaways19:30 - OTHER NEWS!21:17 - Best Fact Yet22:34 - Shout Outs Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Yeties, you already know about the assassination attempt over the weekend. It's a painful moment for our country, and we hope that this is the lowest point. Political violence is un-American. So we hope the temperature turns down, and we don't see anything close to this again. Now, as part of our pop business podcast, Jack and I, we cover policy, not politics. But this felt different. It did. So we wanted to acknowledge it.

Now, besties, let's get to our pot. This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday. July 15th, and today's pod is the best one yet this is a T-boy. Happy Monday, the top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Stocks are at record highs.

Jack's looking record fantastic, and I assume I'm going to guess that you were up on the paddleboard this weekend, Jack. Yes, I was. You got paddleboard vibes. You're giving paddleboard. Yes, I was. But the pod son misses you, Nick. He's so sad that you left Camp Kramer. That was fantastic.

I felt like every day we were teaching him something, Jack, like ice cream. Yeah. Speaking of ice cream, he actually got you a gift. It started melting, so I put it in the freezer, and we'll give it to you next time. It's dairy-based. Extra hot fudge, Jack, three fantastic stories for today. What do we got on the pot? For our first story, the NBA's new TV deal is worth $76 billion, and it includes Amazon Prime.

So, Jack, what do we wish the NBA would do next? Add an expansion team in Europe. Yeah? And in Africa. Oh, that's a good takeaway. Second story, what do we got? For our second story, Etsy, is now requiring that everything sold on their marketplace have a human touch, literally. Because AI and Timu are infiltrate in Etsy.

It's not artificial intelligence. Sometimes it's artificial intelligence. If you know, you know. Third story, what do we got? And our third and final story is the fastest growing genre in the book industry. Romanticy. Romantic fantasies are driving book sales with pixie dust, steamy, hot. Pixie Dust. Wow, I think I have to unbutton one of these buttons, Nick. I'm sorry, pause the pod,

I need to sit down. Stand up and stay seated, please. But yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. What a mix of stories to come back to love this mix jack. Gamborn. Full disclosure, Nick and I are table at it. Is it just us, or does the house always win? It's particularly true with us. We tend to lose money, a lot of money. I'll stay. Sir, you have five. I like to live dangerously. 20 beats your five, I'm sorry, sir. Well, I won't lie to you. Cards are not my bank, baby. But Nick and I found one gambling game where the odds are actually in your favor. And it's only for this one week. Get this, Yeties. The Mirage Casino is giving away $1.6 million to gamblers in the next two days. Because the Mirage legally has to. Jack, could you

sprinkle on some context for us, please? The Mirage Casino and Hotel. It's been in icon on the Las Vegas strip for 35 years. The Mirage! The first Las Vegas hotel covered in mirrors. The Marage! The first Las Vegas hotel to give you the ick. Yeah, it did. The Mirage. They've hosted Siegfried and Roy, Cirque de Soleil. And probably your Aunt Edna's Bachelorette. But this Wednesday, the Mirage Hotel is shutting down. They'll reopen under a new name and a new ownership in 2027. But that means Nevada law. It requires casinos to pay out all their jackpots. before they close their doors. I'm sorry, Jack, could you please repeat that specific line, my friend?

The Mirage must give away all accumulated jackpot cash by law by tomorrow. Holy crap! They must give away this $1.6 million. Okay, and how exactly are going to do this, Jack? They said they're going to pay out $400,000 of extra bonus cash on table games today and tomorrow. And they are going to pay out $1.2 million in extra bonus cash on slot machines today and tomorrow. And again, it all must happen by midnight, Tuesday night. I mean, Jack and I were talking about this this weekend.

The whole situation is like Ocean's 11 in reverse. They're giving George Clooney the money. Yeah. Brad Pitt, come over here. We're not even going to stop you. So, Yetis, let us know if you're at the Mirage and let us know if you hit goal. If you do, I'll stay. Sir, you have five. I strongly suggest you hit.

Jack, you know I love to live dangerously. Yeties, let's in our three stories. Two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm They had an idea to cause a cultural storm It's the best one yet But the best is an norm That's it is 50% That's a fat tip

Tea Boy City on your at list If you know you know Because we're ready to go We can't wait no more So just start the show First, a quick word from our sponsor For our first story The NBA has finalized a deal

That nearly triples the TV rights of basketball The NBA is winning because the NBA is disrupting. Yes. Now they should disrupt again by going intercontinental. Intercontinental. But first, Jack, what do we hear from the old PFWTMs? People familiar with the matter are saying that the NBA has finalized an 11-year TV deal worth $76 billion. 76 bill. That is Yao Ming-sized, Jack. Yow-Ming is 7-6. So yeah, I think it is Yao Ming-sized. It works, Yeties. It works. But Jack, could you toss on some feelas like Grand Hill and dunk on some context for us over there. $76 billion is a huge deal, but it's smaller than the NFL's TV deal, which is worth $110 billion.

But it's not that much smaller for the NBA, is it, Jack? This $6.9 billion a year that the NBA is going to get, that's nearly three times as big as the NBA's previous deal. So yet is what Jack and I are saying is that the NBA is getting $7 billion a year. The NFL is getting $10 billion a year, and the NHL is happy to be getting paid. They're happy to be getting paid. But the wildest part isn't how much this deal is worth. It's who the deal is going to.

Because in this deal, ESPN is going to get the NBA finals. NBC is going to get a bunch of games. And Amazon is putting basketball on streaming. Jeff Bezos is paying $20 billion over 11 years to put basketball games on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday on Amazon Prime Video. Andy Jassy, strap on that jockstrap, baby. He already had a jockstrap because they've had Thursday night football. That's true. Now, besties, this NBA deal is expected to become official in about two weeks.

That's when we'll learn officially that TNT's 40-year love affair with Chowers Barkley and basketball is coming to an end. But add it all up, and this is what Jack and I find fascinating about this epic $76 billion NBA deal. The NBA doesn't just want money. They want reach, too. They want reach. That's why. The NBA just inked the biggest sports store. streaming deal with a tech company ever. Because 200 million Americans alone have Amazon Prime

video on their smart TVs. Which means those Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays basketball season, you're going to be going, uh, hey Alexa, can you put on the next game and can you order me a Jalen Brunson jersey, please? Reach is important because the NBA is the most international of all U.S. Big Four sports leagues. That's the surprise about the NBA. The NBA is an extremely International League. And Jack, do we have the data to back that fact up, please? Last year, ticket sales to fans outside of North America jumped by 120 percent. Like a young Mugsy Boggs. And Jack, could we talk about the last six MVP winners in the NBA? None of them were born in the United States. No, they weren't. The best player in the league for six straight years is a foreign

player. And Jack, could we talk about space jam? Because I'm pretty sure half of that team wasn't even born on this planet. I can't argue with that. I mean, Bugs Bunny may not be American. And Marvin the Martian is literally from Mars. Who's the guy with the big hat and the guns? He's definitely American. You know, Somity Sam?

You know, 70 Sam. Like we said, Yetis, the NBA, it's the most international league. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddy is over in the NBA? The NBA should become the first ever intercontinental league. Keyword, Continental. That is, the NBA, it's the most disruptive, the fastest growing, the most international league in the U.S. We've told you that. They've finished their labor deal.

Now they're finishing their TV deal. Next, it's time to expand to 32 teams. That's why we think the NBA should locate their two expansion teams on the other side of the world. Be the first U.S. Sports League to expand beyond the United States and Canada to another continent. All right, besties, over the weekend, Jack and I, we whipped out the maps like. like Magellan. And our first choice, we think it's obvious. It's got to be Europe, right? It makes sense. It's got to be Europe because four European countries have had MVPs, creating big fan bases across the entire continent. But we're not just going to stop there, because Africa has had two NBA MVP's.

And the NBA owns a developmental league in Africa, too. Oh, and frankly, it's always exciting for fans to see their team play abroad, right, Jack? Everyone gets into that. We're doing it right now with like the World Cup and soccer games. Like, oh, 10 a.m. soccer game? Awesome. I'd love to watch basketball at 10 a.m. Los Angeles Lakers at 3 a.m.? I'd wake up for that. That's why we want to see the Paris Pivots NBA team. The Nairobi Nets NBA team.

The London Towers? Sure, I'd love to see that too. Jack, how about we fly over to South Africa to watch the Joe Berg Jam play a couple games? Now, we know what you frequent flyers are thinking. What about jet lag? Well, we have a solution. The two foreign teams can play half the season

on one long three-month road trip. And the other 30 teams can get really excited about their stint over in Vienna. Yeties, this new TV deal for the NBA is the perfect opportunity. The opportunity to add two new teams, one in Europe and one in Africa. Go Intercontinental.

For our second story, Etsy is pivoting. Etsy just launched a whole campaign to glorify human creativity and purge everything else. Because a human touch is the antidote to AI spam. All right, Jack, I want to see some creativity over there. Amazon, but make it macramay. That's what Etsy is. It's an online arts and craft store.

The E-Flee market, it's worth $7 billion on the stock market. That's right. Etsy is now worth one whole lift. People flock to Etsy during the pandemic. It doubled the number of buyers and sellers on the platform because you probably bought like a mask early on from them. Yeah, you were stuck at home and you wanted a candle for your candle to go next to your other candle. And you wanted it made by someone who makes candles. But recently, Etsy's looked less Etsy, more Timo. That's right. It's looked more like Timo, the Chinese cheap product app that sells you anything you want for like $2 each. Here's what. Schemers have been buying up ultra cheap goods on Timo and then reselling them on Etsy, trying to pass them off as arts and crafts.

Jack and I call it the Etsy switcheroo. Maybe you got switcherood. And the result may frustrate you because you thought you were getting arts and crafts, but you ended up getting arts and crap. Yeah, like this was supposed to be a candle made by Charlie. a sweet man in Chattanooga Jack. But it's actually made by Chung Jang Export Company, a factory in China. Yeah, it is. That's one reason that Etsy just dropped new policies for what is and is not allowed on the Etsy marketplace. Get this, Yetis.

There is a new strategy over at Etsy that is the opposite of every other tech company right now. They want less tech, more human. Yeah, they even put their entire marketing budget into a whole new campaign. The tagline, keep commerce human. Keep commerce human. That's what Etsy wants you to think of Etsy. Okay, so now, if you want to sell that attractive candle on Etsy, then it needs to be touched in some way by the person selling it, and you need to verify that. That's the new policy in a nutshell.

The product must be either made, designed, hand-picked, or sourced by the seller linked to the selling account. You have to click on one of those variables. Otherwise, Etsy's going to say you're a liar. Yeah, they're going to kick you off the platform for good. They will kick you out of the platform. Etsy says these rules will boost the quality of stuff on their marketplace by forbidding the Amazon, Ali Baba, Timo junk that's been popping up. If you're selling a macromay candle, I don't think of macromay candle's the thing, by the way. I think you'd beat to smell one of these,

Jack, before you ping on it. Well, if you do sell it, it must be made by that sweet man, Charlie and Chattanooga. See, only Charlie can make a macramac candle, Jack. Macromay candle. That's not a thing, dude. Now, Besty's the CEO of Etsy, Josh Silverman. He says that these policies are intended to keep ETSY different. That is Etsy's differentiation, that it's all touched by humans. And keep Etsy special. So now expect to see a whole bunch of TV commercials, billboards, and ads, showing human hands, touching things next to an Etsy logo. Yeah, they're really leaning into the faces of Charlie, not the candle he made, which may or may not be macromay. Pretty sure this is macromay, Jack. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies is over?

At Etsy. In a world of AI, humans will be more important. important than ever. Yeties, Etsy's huge marketing push of a human connection, it's actually the part of what Jack and I think will be a big new trend. A big new trend of highlighting that humans made this, not AI. Because look at your computer. We are all getting flooded by digital content made by AI. We call it AI spam. Think about your Gmail for a second. Oh, brutal. Ninety-five percent of the emails you get end up in the promotions tab because they're basically spam. Well, once artificial intelligence starts generating more content, that'll be on overdrive. We're going to be flooded with stuff created with no human involvement. It'll be AI spam, AI junk, far artificial intelligence that you're

trying to avoid. Not artificial intelligence, it's fart official intelligence. That's why human curation will be more valuable than ever to help people sift through AI junk. And that's why Jack and I are so focused on this countertake. AI and robots, they're not going to out-compete humans. They're going to make humans look better. And in a world of AI, humans, will be more important than ever. Stick that on a slide deck. Chat Chappetee can't make that check. Now a quick word from our sponsor.

For our third and final steamy story, the fastest growing segment of the book industry is Romantic Fantasy. Romantic fantasy. And this new genre explains the entire publishing industry right now. Yeah, it is. Burry your B-Tree, drop your James Joyce. Jack.

Potter, man. I just pushed pause because you knew I was listening. I knew you were listening that thing. I was side listening. Because Bestie's the top trending book genre right now is Romanticy. Romanticy. It's a hybrid genre and it's caused a literary frenzy in bookstores. It's not romance. It's not fantasy. It's romantic. It's like a mystical character, but then the steamy plot of like a Nicholas Sparks Knopf. Fifty shades of Gandalf. Gone with the Dragon Wind. Romeo and Juliet. And a Hobbit. So Jack and I just totally made up those titles. Trotto, what are you doing here?

No, Messies, Jack and I, we totally made up those titles. But there is one particular leader in the Romantasy genre, right, Jack? And this leader may or may not be in my house somewhere right now. It's called A Court of Thorns and Roses, or Akitor, for short, and it's the top-selling Romanticy novel. In fact, of the top 10 best-selling books overall this year, half of them are Romanticies. Half of them are romanticies, some by Sarah Moss and some by Rebecca Yaros. They make up five of the top ten, those two authors.

And get this, Besties. Romanticies' romantasy sales have searched 85% in the last year to 11 million books sold. Or as Bloomberg recently reported, Dragons and Sex are now a $610 million business. Where are my dragons? They're reading a hot book, baby. Let me just say, don't ask Dumbledore. But besties, this is what Jack and.

I found fascinating about this story. Romanticy just turned the page on something else. And what is that something else? Jack, they turned the page on the entire book industry. The second quarter of this year was the first year in three years that total book sales rose from the year before. Book sales just rose for the first time in three years and it's because of Romanty. So we jumped in T-boy's style to the book industry. Turns out it's highly concentrated. Just five publishers control 80% of of all book sales. Like Simon & Schuster, Harper Collins, Penguin Books, those publishers, they control almost the entire book industry, 80%. But one publishing house owns the Romanticy category. That's true. And that one publishing house has jumped on the Romanticy dragon, and it is surging.

It's called Bloomsbury, a British publisher that is publicly traded. Their stock is up 50% this year because that Court of Thorns and Roses book may be on my bedside table. Those elves are hot, and this company's stock is feeling even hotter. But we're not going to stop there, are we, Circe? So, Jack, what's the takeaway for all our buddies in the publishing industry and the finance industry? The book industry is structured just like venture capital. Yet he's wild stat, Jack and I discovered. According to a court filing, 90% of books sell fewer than 1,000 copies.

In fact, half of books sell fewer than 12 copies. Which means that just 10% of books are profitable. and 90% probably lose money. Those 10% hold up the entire industry. They must make the profits to keep the whole industry going. Now, here's the interesting thing, Bessies. That sounds surprising, but there's actually a precedent here, isn't there, Jack? That precedent is venture capital.

It's the same concept in the venture capital industry. If you're a VC, you know that only 10% of the companies you invest in will succeed. The other 90% will fail. But when those 10% succeed, they carry the whole venture capital firm. In VC, you're hoping that you're investing in an Uber. In book publishing, you're hoping you're investing in a mobile dick. And that is why Andrewson Horwitz looks a lot like Simon and Schuster.

Because the publishing and venture capital industries share the same approach when it comes to risk and reward. They bet on a bunch of good options, but they depend on 10% to hit it big. Jack, can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? The NBA has secured a deal that nearly triples. their TV value, and next, it's time for them to expand. So we want the NBA to go inner continental. One new team in Europe and one new team in Africa. The Berlin Bergsteigers and the Somalia swishes. Second, Etsy is trying to keep its platform different and special by requiring a human touch for everything it sells. Which leads to our countertake. In a world

of AI, human involvement will become more important than ever. And our third and final story, Romanticy sales have caused book sales to grow in America for the first time in three years. Hey, you're making me blush, Jack. Just like venture capitalists, book publishers depend on just 10% to carry the financial load for the whole industry. VC and book publishing basically have the same business model. But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, Dak Shepard and Monica Padman are Switched Teams in podcast.

The Armchair Expert podcast just inked an $80 million deal. deal to move from Spotify to Wondery. Full disclosure, we're actually part of the Wondery network too. Earlier this year, Wondery lost their biggest show, smartless, but Armchair Expert is replacing that void. And second, the IRS has some good news for you. What is it, Jack? The IRS just snagged a billion dollars for the American taxpayer. That's right, Yetis, the tax agency was able to claw back a billion dollars in taxes that was owned specifically by millionaires. They did it, thanks to new funding they got from the Inflation Reduction Act a couple years ago. And that reminded Jack and me of one of our favorite facts about the IRS,

the ROI opportunity of the IRS. For every $1 we give the IRS for enforcement, we collect $6 in taxes owed. And finally, the call and text histories of nearly all AT&T wireless customers were just accessed by hackers. The hack actually happened to Snowflake, a cybersecurity company. There's a problem. Snowflake, snow failed, and AT&T is a customer of Snowflake. They don't have the contents of those calls or text, but hackers know who you called, who you texted, and how many times?

I mean, I'm an AT&T customer, and Jack, what those hackers are going to see are a whole lot of FaceTime's with you, man. Like, why is he doing a one hour? Is he a podcast or what's going on over here? I'm pretty sure our callag suggests that you and I have a romanticcy with each other. Yeah, these hackers. They know that Romeo was texting DeNaris Targaryen, but they don't know what they were texting about. Now, time for the best fact, yeah, this one sent in by Alice Martel about the book industry, because she's my mom, she works in publishing, and Jack and I were talking to her about this story before we did it today. Get this. Americans bought one billion books last year. One billion books. Now, Jack, could you

sprinkle on more context for us over there, please? Compare that to the 800 million movie tickets that Americans bought last year. We repeat, we bought more books than movie tickets last year, and that doesn't even include the e-books. So movies and books, they're comparable entertainment options for us. Yeah, you see, the book was way better than the movie. Financially speaking. If you know, you know. And my literary agent mom, she knows. Yetties, you look fantastic today. And if you have an idea for an NBA team in Africa or in Europe, or in Asia, or in Latin America, hit us up. As you know, Nick and I like alliterations. If it's the Paris Pivots, we want to see them play.

Hit us up at T-Boy Pod. We want to hear yours. The Austria Airballs, yeah, we'll see them play too. A little self-deprecating team mascot. I'd enjoy that. The Florence Fowles, get them on the court. Leave a comment on YouTube or Spotify. Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow.

And before we go, a happy 13th birthday to Anika Galani over in Waldwick, New Jersey. She was just awarded Miss Sunshine, and her teacher agrees she's the best one yet. Happy 33rd birthday to Renee Bueno celebrating in the hot heat, dry heat of Glendale, Arizona. Happy birthday to Stephen Kavanaugh in Syracuse, New York, who's also got an eighth wedding anniversary with his wifey Kylie. And happy birthday to Casey Zong in Denver, Colorado. Casey used to be on the fourth floor. Now she's going to the fifth floor.

Moving on up. And to anyone else celebrating something today, make it a T-Boy. Celebrate the wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Amazon. Hold on. I'm just Googling macramee candle to see if this is a thing. A macramee candle is not a thing. Yet.