The Best One Yet - 🫶🧾 “Eras Tour receipts” — Taylor Swift’s concert payday. Disney’s doubling cruise line. DeBeers’ industrial diamonds.

Episode Date: December 10, 2024

After 149 concerts, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour just ended… and we got the financial receipts.Disney is doubling its cruise line… because Disney Cruise is actually its most popular product.Get This: 80% of diamonds are not used for jewelry… they're used for factories.🏀 Plus, the biggest endorsement deal of all time is Nike’s Air Jordan shoe... but it was banned by the NBA. The surprise origin story of Air Jordans is the next episode of our new show The Best Idea Yet. Click here to listen: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks “The Best Idea Yet”: The untold origin stories of the products you’re obsessed with — From the McDonald’s Happy Meal to Birkenstock’s sandal to Nintendo’s Super Mario Brothers to Sriracha. New 45-minute episodes drop weekly.—-----------------------------------------------------GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts FOR MORE NICK & JACK: Newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Connect with Nick: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolas-martell/ Connect with Jack: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-crivici-kramer/ SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. It is Tuesday, Tea Boy, Tuesday, December 10th. And today's pod is the best one yet. This is a T-boy. The top three pop business news stories you need to know today. Am I meeting you at the tree? Where am I going to meet you in New York, man?

I'll see you later today. Nick and I are getting together in New York City this week for some Christmas card photography. Jack said he wanted to skate around Walman Rink. I said I'll see you there at 1 p.m. before the pod. We're going to do a prom picture right in front of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Someone's got to take our picture. Excuse me. You got a selfie stick in the meantime, Jack.

Three fantastic stories for today's show. What do we got on the T-Boy? After 149 concerts and 10 million tickets sold, Taylor Swift's ERIS tour ended on Sunday. So Jack and I got the receipts on the final financial numbers of Swift and Ombics. For our second story, Disney just revealed that its most popular product,

by far, is the Disney Cruise. Cruise! Disney is double in its cruise line because of millennial, moms. And our third and final story. December is the most important month by far for the diamond industry. But Yetis, did you know that 80% of diamonds never end up in jewelry? We'll tell you where the diamonds really go. It's not in that wrapper's teeth, is it, Jack? Sorry, Play-Buff-Fle. It's in other places. But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix of stories. Fantastic mix of stories. Love this mix

today. Yesterday at the end of the show, we asked you our weekly trivia question. What was the biggest shoe sponsorship of all time. The answer? It was Nike and Michael Jordan. Yeah, Michael Jordan and Nike, specifically the Air Jordans from Nike. And it wasn't the biggest shoe deal in history because of Michael Jordan. No, no, no, no, no, no. No, it was the biggest shoe deal in history because of Michael Jordan's mother. Yeties, Nike's Air Jordan is the latest episode of our weekly deep dive show, The Best Idea Yet. The Best Idea Yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with. In this 45-minute episode, you'll hear how Michael's mom got Nike to bend to her will because she believed in her son that much. Oh, and you'll hear how the first air Jordans were actually banned by the NBA.

You'll learn how Michael Jordan actually hated his namesake shoe at first. And we'll tell you why you should always, always, always, always, always, bring your mom into your next business meeting. So later today, after this T-boy, check out our weekly deep dive show, the best idea yet. New episodes drop every Tuesday, and we drop the link in today's show notes. Because Nike's Air Jordans are the $7 billion sneaker brand that changed the history of sports and fashion. So tap the link in today's episode description to listen to the best idea yet after today's show. But today's show, this show. Oh, yeah, the T-boy. Is the best one?

Yeah. This is the fantastic show. Best one we've ever done. Jack, let's hit our three stories. Fifteen years before this song, two boys from the Northeast met in the dorm. They had an idea that caused a cultural storm. It's the best one yet, but the best is an norm. Jack Nick, that's it. I don't even think they need to practice.

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. Start the show. First, a quick word from our sponsor. For our first story, Taylor Swift's Eras Tour is officially over, and it's smashed every music record.

Here's the economic receipts for the biggest live tour of all time. Jack, let's start with the numbers. 149 shows, 52 cities, 21 months, five continents, one tour. And one bajillion sparkly outfits. The best part, we're not even rounding up on that. Yeti's Taylor Swift's Erez tour. It is over as of Sunday, and it broke every single record we could find, and we found a lot. With $2.1 billion in gross ticket sales, it beat the president.

previous record set by Elton John by more than 2x. Now, a pretty good comp for Taylor Swift's tour. It's actually not the music industry. Nick and I noticed the baseball industry is the better comp. So, Bessies, here's what Jack and I are thinking. In baseball, teams play 162 games, but Taylor Swift did 149 shows. So those are like kind of similar, aren't they, Jack? In 2008, the New York Yankees drew a record 7 million fans to their 162 home and away games. Well, by comparison, the heiress tour of Taylor Swift brought in 10 million fans. Which means Taylor Swift beat Derek Jeter and Shohayotani. And on top of it, she brought in twice as much revenue as the New York Yankees do in a single season.

We know what you're thinking. Taylor's concert tour was over two years. She brought in more than the Yankees over two seasons. Oh, you want to talk to us on a per day basis? Well, football players in the NFL, like her boyfriend, take six days off between games. But Taylor took just three days off on average between her 149 shows. In fact, Taylor performed 7,000 songs, which is equal to 13 straight days of singing, which is more than all of the national anthems of all the football games in a single season.

Did you check that map? I actually haven't double-checked it, but instinctively, my back of the envelope checks out, Jack. All right, Nick, the dollars and cents were huge. Well, let's talk about where the money actually went. Good point, Jack, because the $2.1 billion is a record-breaking. number, but that's actually just the start. The ticket resellers, they actually made huge money, too. Yeah, Yetis, let's jump in T-boy style. You see, Taylor's team, they only collect the primary ticket sales, which average about $204 a ticket. But the final show in Vancouver on Sunday,

it shows how big the secondary prices went. The average resale price in Vancouver on Sunday was nearly $3,000. And Taylor Swift is not getting more than the original $204. But Taylor's team does get the majority of revenue from merch sales, which totaled $440 million over the course of the tour, which is more than Allbirds brings in for their shoes in a single year. Add in the Ares Tour movie, which brought in $261 million at the box office, that's more than Disney made on the Marvel movie. And the Ares Tour book? It sold $32 million just on Black Friday weekend, which is the second most ever for a non-fiction

title. What about the friendship bracelets? Well, she actually didn't make money. on the friendship bracelets, Jack. But we did discover that friendship bracelet sales searched 15,000 percent over on eBay. Now, Taylor shared the wealth. She actually paid the dancers and the stage crew $200 million in bonuses on top of the salaries they got paid. Now, Jack and I crunched the math on Taylor's giveaway bonus money. And what did we discover, Jack? She gave away the equivalent of 15 shows worth of revenue as bonuses for the workers. It's like she did 15 free shows because

because she gave all those revenues to everyone working for her. Over the last two years, we've said that Taylor should IPO her entire business. Let fans buy Taylor stock. We did. And we said she should launch her own ticketing service so Taylor Swift could disrupt Ticketmaster. Her tour has provided a whole bunch of episodes worth of content for this show. We've made a lot of money on advertising revenues by covering the business of Swiftinomics. But the Ares Tour has provided even more business for the rest of the world.

And that business is our takeaway. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies? We're in shorts, skirts, and t-shirts over at Taylor Swiftinomics. Where Taylor went, GDP grew. Yeties, the coolest thing about Taylor's ERIS tour is how $1 spent on tickets by you led to $6 more you spent on everything else. In the U.S., the average fan spent $1,300 total to see Taylor if you include the outfits, the hotel, the food and drink, and the travel.

the sparkles. In fact, Taylor's fans traveled an average distance of 338 miles just to see her. So Taylor's 15 nights in the United Kingdom, Nick, they added $1.3 billion to the British economy, according to Barclays. Well, Jack, what if we extrapolate that number to her entire era's tour? Then there were $13 billion of additional revenue beyond what Taylor collected. So, yet he's Taylor, she headlined the year of the she economy with Barbie playing a supporting role. In 2023 and 2024, the music world witnessed an heiress tour. But the economic world witnessed a stimulus tour. Because everywhere Taylor went the last two years, GDP grew.

For our second story, Disney is launching seven new cruise ships. Disney is doubling their cruise business. Why is Disney investing $12 billion on new cruise ships? Why are they doing it jack? Because of one single survey. Yeah, it is a funny thing. The movie Titanic, it was not a Disney movie. Bob Iger is now avenging that injustice with this news.

Yes, he is. Disney just ordered seven new cruise ships priced at about $2 billion per a boat. That means each vessel cost 10 times the price of Zootopia. By 2031, Disney will have doubled their fleet to 13 total cruise ships. Now, can I sprinkle on some context to that 13 cruise ships that Disney's going to have? I would love for you to do that. Carnival has 27 cruise ships. ships. Royal Caribbean has 28 cruise ships. Disney's going to have 13. It's right up there. Disney is

basically a cruise company now, is what we're saying. But only Disney cruises have grown adults dressed on the poop deck as Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck. Yeah, they're the only one steering the ship. And with Coco and Frozen themed stage shows and Avengers themed laser tag on the starboard bow. It's a family affair, which is why, according to the Wall Street Journal, Disney can charge twice as much a price as Carnival and Royal Caribbean charge. That's right, Besties. There is pricing power in that pixie dust. By the way, side note, Nana, if you're listening,

thank you so much for that Royal Caribbean cruise I went on when I was 12. I didn't go on it, but I'm pumped that I heard the stories from Jack. In the meantime, Yetis, what Jack and I found fascinating about this story is, why is Disney doubling down on cruises in the first place? Because they realized they can serve two customers instead of one. Yeah, Besties, here was the incident. by Disney, um, Disney parks, they are vacations for the kids. That's not the insight from Disney. That's the insight from me when I went to Disney Paris this summer. Yeah, on the other hand, Disney cruises are

vacations for the kids and the parents to customers. Because a Disney cruise ship is like a 1,200 foot child care facility. It is a closed-offed chaperone vessel with child activities that you don't have to worry about as a parent. So on a Disney cruise, mom and dad can hang poolside with the Margaritas while Little Johnny is in crayon camp with Minnie Mouse. They have activities for the kids going through midnight. True story. Now, compare that to a theme park. As a parent, you're on duty the whole time.

I mean, Jack, at Disney World Once, we lost my sister in Epcot. It was traumatic. Did you? We found her eating an enchilada at the Mexican restaurant. Sounds like a win. It all worked out. It all worked out. It was a scary afternoon.

Also, a cruise, it eliminates the worst part of going on a Disney vacation, which is the flight. The flight. Little Johnny's having a meltdown on aisle 13. You're like, honey, when do we land? She's like three hours. Orlando. But the cruise, it doesn't involve air travel. Disney cruises, they take off from 18 port cities globally.

So chances are you can just go to the port instead of the airport. New Yorkers don't have to fly from LaGuardia to Florida for a Disney vacation. A Disney cruise departs from the Hudson River on 50th Street. So Disney is investing $12 billion to double its fleet by 2031. Because Disney knows it's a good investment. And they know that because of one single survey. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the Disney Cruise industry? Surveys are how you get from I think to I know.

Now, yeah, it is. With growth of 23% and 14% in the past two years, Disney just said, I think we should expand our fleet. But when $12 billion is on the line, I think doesn't cut it. No, it does not. So Disney turned to customer data to turn, I think, to I know. They asked each customer a question at the end of their cruise. And here was the question.

They said, how likely are you to take another Disney cruise in the future? And Jack, what were the results of that one survey? 82% of Disney passengers said they're either likely or very likely to take another Disney cruise. That's an extremely high rate. In fact, besties, in surveys across the Disney portfolio, they learned that cruises are the most liked Disney product, cruises. So Disney Plus and Moana, they're breeding future Disney cruise passengers, but 82% of existing cruise passengers plan to do it again. And that's why Disney is doubling down on cruises, because a simple survey is how you get in business from I think to I know.

Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, the biggest diamond producer in the world just revealed its real business. 80% of diamonds, never make it onto fingers. They end up in factories. Yet is happy engagement season. Engagement season. You know what that means, Jack? Your random roommate from sophomore year just got down on one knee during a hike at Mount Fuji. Check out my Instagram. We did a thing. You're seeing a lot of proposal picks on Instagram on Instagram. Yeah, yeah, you are. December, it is actually the biggest month for the diamond industry because of those proposals. By the way, if you give someone an engagement ring, you don't have to give a Christmas gift that year.

Is that a fact really interesting, Jack? I think so. You're spending a lot of money on that ring. Well, I think we're going to get a lot of controversial DMs after that take. It's worth a conversation. But yet he's in the meantime. Here's the shocker we discovered about the diamond industry. Only one out of five diamonds that gets mined from this earth. Yeah.

Ends up in jewelry. Sit down, stand up, and look at my ring finger. Jack, can you repeat that stat, please? Only one out of five diamonds ends up in jewelry. In fact, De Beers, the largest dollar. diamond producer in the world. De Beers, the company that invented diamonds are a girl's best friend. Diamonds last forever. They're actually barely in the jewelry industry. Because Yetis get this. 80% of diamonds are not used for jewelry. 80% of diamonds are used for the opposite of jewelry.

80% of diamonds are actually used for industrial purposes. We'll have to explain. Let's explain that one, Jack. Diamonds are the hardest naturally occurring material on earth. You cannot scratch a diamond because there's nothing stronger than a diamond. They're harder than steel, they're harder than iron, they're harder than human teeth. They're harder than valerian steel. True story. We checked that one too. And that is why manufacturing firms actually put diamond tips on saws, which they use to cut stone and metal.

I'm looking at pictures right now of massive mining machines underground, grinding at our earth's core, thanks to diamond-tipped blades. So yet he's added up, and most diamonds aren't actually a Tiffany's or Kay's. they're actually bought by the oil, the gas, the car, and the tech industries. And here's the news. De Beers just said that their B2B business of selling diamonds for industrial purposes, it just got a huge boost. And why is that, Jack? Lab-grown diamonds are ideal for this business. Think about this, Yetty's jewelry customers, yeah, you may care a lot whether a diamond is

romantically natural or grown in a lab. But industrial customers don't care one bit about that. Because whether it's lab grown or natural, the diamonds are physically identical. And they can both cut Valerian steel equally as well as the other one. See, it may as well sell the cheaper one to Exxon. They're not picky about their diamonds.

So Bestie, share this stat with whoever just proposed to you. The Beers is now the world's biggest producer of lab-grown diamonds. And 80% of those diamonds end up on saws. A saw in a Volkswagen factory. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies is over in the diamond industry. Every business has a B2B diamond in the rough.

Now, yet it is, most of us consumers, we don't see it. But many of the businesses we enjoy have a hidden revenue stream. They sell B2B, business to business. The diamond industry, for example, is associated with consumer jewelry. But a majority of the sales are industrial diamonds to business customers. And that's called a B2B customer, selling from one business to another business. And B2B, it can be lucrative like a diamond in the rough. Another example of a consumer business with a B2B diamond in the rough?

Yeah, us, Jack and Nick Studios, our podcast, T-Boy. Our business is this podcast, and you of the listeners are our primary consumers. And we make money B-to-C. We make money through ads, through merch, through selling tickets to our live shows. That's B-to-C. But we also have a B-to-B business. We do. We do speaking events.

Companies pay us to present our takeaways and insights at company events. that is selling B2B business to business. We do it. If you work at a business to consumer company, a B2C company, we bet you there's a B2B business just waiting to be acted on. Exactly. And diamonds are the perfect reminder of it. For a consumer business, a B2B revenue stream can be a diamond in the rough. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for T-Boy Tuesday? Taylor Swift's Erez tour is over. It absolutely smashed concert tour records with $2.1 billion in ticket sales.

Wherever Taylor went the last two years, GDP grew. For our second story, it's Disney. They're investing $12 billion to double the number of cruise ships to 13. Disney, they used a customer survey to go from, I think, to I know. And our third and final story is De Beers. They sell 80% of their diamonds to industrial customers. Lab grown is perfect for that, by the way. Not selling a fingers, they're selling of factories.

And just about every B to C company has a B to B diamond in the. the rough. But Yetis, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, an update on the health care executive killing, police have arrested a person of interest named Luigi Mangione of Pennsylvania. The police got a tip from a worker at McDonald's who recognized his face from the wanted photos. So they went to central Pennsylvania and they made the arrest just yesterday afternoon. Mangione had multiple fake IDs and a gun silencer, which is consistent with the weapon used in the attack. We've got two big money updates happening in sports that were record setters.

First, the college football playoff is set. Twelve teams are competing in four rounds of playoffs this year. The first round of the playoffs starts December 20th. The last round is January 20th. Okay, best non-playoff bowl game, though? Who is it, Jack? Who we got? Michigan versus Alabama.

That's a good one. And Juan Soto is joining the New York Mets after leaving the Yankees in the biggest deal in sports history, 15 years, $765 million. He's going to be on contract with the Mets until he's 41. Yankees fans feel like the Mets fans right now. And finally, Mondalese, the company behind Oreos, is exploring a takeover of Hershey's, the company behind Rees's.

Hershey's stock jumped 20% because acquisitions tend to be at a premium to the current stock market price. Acquisitions tend to be above asking price, so to speak. But we should point out, a deal would require the approval of the Hershey's family trust before the Hershey Company could be sold. Don't try to sweeten the deal by sending them chocolate because they already got a few. Now, time for the best fact yet, but this one is a correction to a mistake. Jack and I said on the pod just last week. This correction was sent in by the entire nation of Ireland. You see, last week, we did this fascinating story on the Guinness sales surge right now that

is being driven by Ginnis influencers. Guinness sales are up 24% among young women. It's not just a guys drink right now. Jack and I also mentioned that Guinness Beer was limiting supplies in the United Kingdom, and we referred to the UK as their home island. Guinness is based in Ireland, which is not part of the United Kingdom. Now, interesting source of the mistake, but Guinness is actually owned by Diageo, which is a company based in London. And that's the little mix-up where we said Home Island was the UK.

So a British company actually owns the Irish beer. That's enough. I'm just going to Irish exit this best fact yet. Yet he's while Jackie's Irish exiting over there, you look fantastic. And now that you finish today's show, we know the perfect thing you should listen to next. Check out our iconic story of the Air Jordan Sneaker. Michael Jordan's mom literally made this deal go through, and it is the biggest deal in sports shoe history. And it's the reason why Nike is number one today. Okay, so go and check out the best idea yet. That's our new weekly show. You can check out every Tuesday. We even have a link in today's show notes to make it super easy for you. If you've

the Air Jordan movie? You need to listen to this Air Jordan episode. We got some updates for you about that Air Jordan movie, don't with Jack. So Yeti's head on over to the best idea yet, and Jack and I will see you there. And remember to call your mother. And before we go, a happy birthday to Yeti Chrissia Natalia in Jakarta, Indonesia, who's listening to this pod while celebrating a birthday and is about to have a baby girl in two weeks. Congrats, Christia. Happy birthday to Oliver, who's turning nine in lovely Los Angeles. Oliver's listening every day on the way to school. Oliver celebrate the best one yet.

Happy birthday to Caden Silverstein in New York City. And Andy Castler has got a belated birthday over in Washington, Illinois. And a huge shout-out to Chase McElroy. Great guy. Big fan of the show who actually built a caroling app way before Uber got into Carolyn. Way before. And then a men shout-out to our bestie Lila Adler

over in Venice, California, who just went full hustle. Jack, what's going on here? Lila told us on this podcast, about her side hustle, Jerry Wipers, which is basically windshield wipers for snow goggles. Well, Lila is now full time on Jerry Wipers, and we think it's the best idea yet. Not too shabby. And to anyone else, celebrate something today, make it a T-Boy.

Celebrate the Wins. This is Jack. I own stock of Disney and Nick own stock of Nike.