The Best One Yet - 📖 “Holy Profit” — The Bible’s sales surge. Spotify Wrapped’s AI stunt. South Korea’s econ underdog.

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

Bible sales are up 22% this year... even though religion is down (we’ll explain).South Korea declared (and then undeclared) Martial Law… so we’re looking at their economy.Spotify Wrapped just dropped… but AI podcast hosts stole the show.Plus, the top 10 most-mispronounced words of the year… from Shein to Chappel Roan.$SPOT $NWSA $SCHLSubscribe to the weekly newsletter: https://tboypod.com/newsletter Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: 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.—-----------------------------------------------------Subscribe to our new (2nd) show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly. It’s The Best Idea Yet.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.

Nick, you don't shake a bottle before popping it, do you? You're going to need an extra towel if you do. This is Nick. This is Jack. It's Thursday, the new Friday. December 5th, 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. You got it ready?

Is it chilled? Uh-huh. Oh, wait, I'm doing it now? You got it now? Yeah. We got a show to do. Oh, we show. Yays, we are pouring one out because it is Spotify.

We're up today. Thank you. I just build all over myself. Thank you. Thank you to all the Yetis who made us number one in 2024. Get this, 19,000 of you had T-Boy as their top podcast on Spotify this year. Many, many more listen to us. But for 19,000 of you, we were the number one show just on Spotify.

We were your go-to, boom. Okay, another wild stat. You ready, Jack? 31% of our audience is new as of this year. Welcome, besties. Apparently a lot of you have been saying H-Y-H-T-B-O-I. Welcome, Yeti's. So besties, tag us in your raft, and we'll send you a video personally of us celebrating with a glass of prosaca right here. Those are some of the top stats we just mentioned, but we posted them all on Instagram.

All right, now, Jack, pour that prosceco. Let's hit our three stories. For our first story, it's Spotify wrapped. This is the biggest, most powerful PR campaign of all corporations of all year. But here's this year's key innovation, artificial intelligence podcast hosts. I don't feel comfortable. our second story. It's the best-selling book right now. It's the Bible. The Bible. Americans bought 17 million Bibles this year up 22%. So Jack and I are asking the holiest of questions. How are Bible sales up if religion is down? And our third and final story, South Korea just experienced

political confusion and chaos, but things are now calling. So we are looking at South Korea's economy because it kind of reminds us of Yoda. Hmm. GDP we have. But yet,ies, before you hit that wonderful mix of stories. I mean, what a fantastic mix of stories, Jack. I ordered my Prosecco slightly chilled, by the way, just pointing that out. Yeties, you may have heard that the Oxford Dictionary recently announced the Word of the Year. And that word of the year is brain rot.

Brain rot. As in, I was scrolling TikTok for so long, I'm suffering Brain Rout right now. Hey, Oxford, that's actually two words, but we will accept BrainRot as the Word of the Year. for 2024. But more interesting to us wasn't the word of the year. It was the mispronounced words of the year. Get thus. I mean this. The language company Babel studied 100,000 hours of live TV footage. And they discovered the most mispronounced words by the newscasters, the politicians, and the game show host. The most mispronounced words. I mean mispronounced. Jack, why don't you kick us off? What are the five most mispronounced words this year? What do we got? The most mispronounce word of this year was the Chinese

shopping app, Sheen. Oh, you mean she in. It's actually Sheean. That's what they said, yeah. The second most mispronounced word was the actress, Zendaya. It's actually Zendaya. It's mispronounced. It should be Zendaya. Third was the politician, Pete Buttigieg. You mean Poudaj. I think I'm still mispronouncing it, but that's actually the right pronunciation. You definitely mispronouncing now. All right. The next one was the crucial ozempic ingredient, somalgletude. Jack, you mean semaglutide. Right. Thank you. And finally, who could forget. at the singer Chappelle Rhone. Ah, you mean Chapel Rhone.

She's not going to be happy about that one. I think we just fell off for her Spotify rap. Yeah, yeah, she was a Yeti. She was a Yeti. So, besties, you're welcome. Those are the five most mispronounced words of the year 2024. Let us know in the comments if we pronounce Pete Buttigieg correctly or not. In the meantime, Jack, we've got three fantastic stories.

Let's hit the podcast. I mean podcast. Let's hit the podcast. Let's hit the podcast. Let's hit the show. Let's hit the show. 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 a norm Jack Nick, that's it I don't even think they need to practice 50% that's a fat tip T-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 to show Start the show

First, a quick word from our sponsor For our first stories Spotify is celebrating the 10th year of Spotify wrapped, its annual corporate holiday. But this year, Spotify show was stolen by AI podcast hosts. And we got some opinions on this. But yet it is, we know that your Instagram just got lit up and we know what it looks like. Your buddy Timmy just shared his five top musical indulgences and you swiped past it as quickly as possible. Timmy's a Sabrina Carpenter guy too. Spotify. They just unwrapped their 10th year of Spotify wrapped. Your most listened to music and podcast from

2024. And honestly, we jumped in T-boy style to the numbers. No surprises at all were there, Jack. Taylor Swift was the number one streamed music. Joe Rogan was the number one streamed podcast. But on this really fun day when Spotify has all the attention in the world, they used the opportunity to announce something big, a new big product. Last year, they announced on this day AI DJs. Yeah, AI DJs, like a generic commentary and safe for work jokes about your musical taste. This year, they unveiled AI podcast hosts to wrap up your Spotify Rapp for you. We're talking one male and one female artificially intelligent podcast hosts to do the same thing as the AI DJ did last year.

You can check it out right now. Nick and I did. It's called the AI Rapped podcast. It's like four minutes long and it describes your Spotify wrapped. I don't want to be judgy here, Jack, as a full-time podcast. It sounds a little corporate. It's like, it's like, Nick, you listen to 3,000. 789 minutes of Sabrina Carpenter.

Whoa, that puts Nick in the top 0.03% of her listeners. Get this guy in espresso. That's the Spotify wrapped AI podcast. Yeah, but without the laughing and without the fun. Yet it's actually kind of awkward for us to talk about the story because it's a story about potentially replacing us. But we're going to try to do it in as unbiased a fashion as possible. This isn't AI Nick and AI Jack.

This is real human with a pulse Nick and real human. with a pulse jack. Here's the deal with the AI-wrapped podcast. It was actually done in a partnership with Google AI, and it's just the beginning for Spotify, it turns out. Because by using AI with Google, the cost of creating a podcast goes to zero. AI podcast hosts don't need to get paid. There's no researchers. There's no script writers. And there's no fact checkers on AI podcasts. Basically, all the expenses of our show, the critical things we pay for to produce the best one yet are not paid for if it's all AI. That's why Spotify is going all in on AI podcasts. They can make as many as they want basically for free. Infinitely scale the podcast host. But Jack, we should explain how the AI

podcast host really works. Google's AI allows one to input a series of information sources, basically a bunch of links, and it will transform the information from those links into a two-person dialogue using artificial intelligence, aka a podcast. For example, let's say you just watch Gladiator 2 like I did, and you want to learn more about the Roman Coliseum that was central to that movie. Here's what you'd do. You'd paste in three links, like one New York Times article about the Gladiators, one history channel article about the Gladiators, and like a book summary all about the Coliseum and Rome and all the good stuff. Boom. The generative AI would get to work. A bunch of servers probably in like Idaho would start humming, and it would produce a 45-minute podcast episode with two AI hosts

talking about the Coliseum. Are you not entertained, Jack? Now, will the AI host correctly interpret the information and tell a compelling story arc? We don't know. Will the hosts add unique insights from their life experiences? Probably not because they're bots. Will the AI hosts have the sprinkle and dinkle and razzle-dazzle of Nick and Jack? I sure hope they don't, Jack.

I really hope they don't, because then we're in trouble. Jack, can you give me a cookie? Chris just to keep us on top, man. Oh, no, because AI is probably training on this episode right now. They're going to steal our cookie crisp. We see you AI. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Spotify? AI has made big tech twice as valuable.

AI podcasts show us why. Yeties, tech companies have become utilities. Must have services that every single company needs. Every company needs electricity, internet access, and cloud computing from Amazon. And it looks like every company will now need a generative AI provider as well. Microsoft, Google, Amazon, meta, Apple. Those are the five big tech dragons that know how to do generative AI the best. So every other company that wants to be on the cutting edge is going to end up partnering with one of those big five tech companies on AI.

Like how Spotify's AI podcasts completely depend on Google's AI programming. And besties that, that's why those five big tech drafts, have each gained $1 trillion in value since generative AI began. AI, it's made big tech twice as valuable. And AI podcasts are the perfect example showing why. For our second story, there's one book driving the entire publishing industry right now, and that book is the Bible. After 2,000 years, the Bible is selling at all-time highs,

and there's a lesson for the media industry. And on the eighth day, God said, can I buy this book with Apple Day? Yet is despite digital media, the book publishing industry is still huge and it is growing right now. Americans buy one billion books per year, which is three books per American. And Barnes & Noble, they're adding 60 new bookstores this year because the book industry has got some momentum. For like my entire life, Barnes & Noble was reducing in size. It was. Now they're growing in size again.

Yeah, earlier this year, we did a whole story. on Romanticy novels, how Romanticy is driving the book industry these days. But the surprised best-selling book of the year is the Bible. It's the Bible, the Bible. It's on pace to sell 17 million copies this year. That's up 22% from 2020. And that's just in America. The Old Testament, it's new again. The apostles, the profit puppies. 22% sales growth for the Bible compares to 1% overall sales growth for books. The Bible, it's been resurrected. Plus, the average of those Bibles, that's also up. They're selling premium Bibles. They're selling bedazzled Bibles. The Wall Street Journal found an $800 version of the Bible that was goat skin covered. Yeah, because you can

find anything on Etsy these days, Jack. But the best part about this Bible bump is that the trademark for the Bible actually expired 2,000 years ago. So any publisher could sell the Bible. Doesn't have to ask anyone for permission. Don't worry, it's not plagiarism. But besties, here's what Jack and I found fascinating about this story. There's a bizarre contrast when it comes to the Bible bump. The Bible is booming, even as Americans are less religious than ever. So we got curious. How is this phenomenon happening? Well, the answer lies in one book publisher's quarterly earnings report. Or as we call it, financial scripture. Yeah, that's what we call it. Harper Collins, which is part of News Corp, announced that our Bible sales again are robust during this time. of acute political uncertainty and intense global conflict. So the 22% Bible sales bump is from rising anxiety.

Artificial intelligence, the election, the war in Middle East, the war in Ukraine, all of these are sources of stress and anxiety for people. But yet, as you know, Jack and me, and you know we didn't stop there. We got curious, we jumped in T-boy style, and we discovered that this phenomenon is not just about the Bible. During the pandemic, which was also a time of high anxiety, philosophy book sales skyrocketed. Yeah, you spent the lockdown, curling up with Plato, Confucius, a little bit of Jean-Jacques Rousseau,

if you will, Jack. Socrates, whose trademark has also expired, by the way, was on the New York Times bestseller list for all of 2021. Deep. So it's less about religion. It's more about lessons. Consumers see philosophy as a warm blanket of comfort during times of uncertainty. You see an AI podcast host launched by Spotify.

Maybe you spend the weekend curled up with some Carl Young. Carl Young? I know you prefer Tocqueville, Jack, but that's the story for another pod. In the meantime, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies who are everyone in the book industry? A media diet is like a food diet. Ultimately, we need balance. Yeties, the wildest stat about this 22% jump in Bible sales this year, it's who's buying all those Bibles.

According to the Wall Street Journal, it's young people under the age of 30. In fact, the main driver of book sales overall, in general, it's Gen Z young people under the age of 30. As one publisher put it, Gen Z wants something more solid. They want something to consume that is the opposite of their TikTok feeds. So the way Jack and I see it, in this age of short form, algo-driven, quick-hit, dopa content on your screen, we're seeing the pendulum swim back to physical long-form books, not just the Bible. And honestly, that's a reminder that consuming content, it's a lot like consuming food. Social media is the sugary sweets and desserts that taste really good.

But ultimately, your mind, like your stomach, craves something wholesome. Like Tokeville. Like Tokeville. Now a quick word from our sponsor. For our third and final story, South Korea just declared martial law and then undeclared martial law. It was crazy. This confusing and confusing and. chaotic political moment is a reminder of how powerful Korea's economy really is.

And we got the numbers to back it up. It's wild. But besties, for six hours on Tuesday, South Korean President Yun declared martial law. Basically, the army was ruling the country for six hours. It was a wild moment. A democratically elected president in a functioning democracy ordered a military takeover of law enforcement nationwide. Now, Jack, the question everyone's And we can explain it here pretty quickly why exactly did he do this? Since President Yun took office two years ago, he's had a standoff with the opposition party on the other side. He hasn't been able to get much done. He's even accused that democratically elected opposition party of being aligned with North Korea.

Harsh words. So it looks like he tried to declare martial law to force through what he wanted to get done. Yeah, that's basically why he wanted to do it. But protesters, they immediately hit the streets of Seoul. Seoul, and both political parties, even his own, called for the president to resign. So Yun's move backfired. And in a unanimous vote on Wednesday, Parliament ended the martial law and moved to impeach the president. Basically, the checks and balances of Korea's democracy worked, and the president's overreach was corrected by South Korea's parliament. But we wanted to remind you

how surprisingly huge the country's economy is that we're talking about. After we saw this story, We jumped in T-boy style, and little South Korea, its economy punches above its weight like a bimmy-bop, Rocky Balboa Jack. South Korea is home to Samsung, the biggest smartphone and chipmaker in the world. Not just Samsung, they're also home to LG, the largest TV maker and battery maker in the world. Hyundai and Kia, they're crushing it across the world. Two Korean car companies. Two of the ten largest car companies in the world.

Oh, K-pop? It's become a top music genre globally from BTC. to Black Pink. Korean cosmetics are trending globally. From Misha to Lanesh. Even Netflix is called Korea. Its best international success story. Squid game? Yeah. Korean television show. We even did a story last year on Korean gastro diplomacy. The government would pay restaurants overseas to make Korean food to spread Korean culture. So the Korean stock market fell 4% on Tuesday with this wild martial law announcement, and the central bank had to jump in to pledge financial support to all the banks during that moment of crisis. And now things have calmed down as the president's takeover has been

stopped. And global markets are relieved. Yes, they are because of our takeaway. So Jack, could you pass the kimchi and tell us, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in South Korea? South Korea has become the Yoda of global economies. Now, Yeti, statistically speaking, despite its small size, South Korea's economy is demonstrably huge. America has the number one economy in the world. But if we look at GDP per square mile, South Korea is actually eight times larger than the United States. Oh, we repeat, South Korea's economy on a GDP per square mile basis is eight times America. Not too shabby. As Yoda said, size matters not. Look at me. Judge me by my size, do you? All right, well, Jack,

the more interesting data, we got to share this. Korea actually puts 5% of its GDP into R&D, research and development. That's the second highest percentage on Earth. Jack, can you sprinkle on some context to that particular number? That's two times bigger than our share of spending on R&D in the United States. So not only is South Korea's economy powerful, it's investing to make it even more powerful in the future. And their investments in R&D is a key reason. They're on top of multiple industries worldwide. So, like Yoda, the tiny Jedi, South Korea's economy is mighty beyond its size. Jack, could you whip up the takeaways for us for the new Friday? Spotify just launched AI podcast Rapt, which is an AI-generated commentary on your Rapt for 2024.

But real-life Nick and Jack think that big tech has doubled in value thanks to AI. And this Spotify-Google partnership, it shows us why. For our second story, sales of the Bible are up 22% in America. America this year. We're buying 17 million Bibles in 2024. And it's all because a media diet is like your food diet. Ultimately, we all crave some balance. A little bit of Tocqueville. And finally, South Korea's flirtation with martial law is over and global markets are relieved. Because the Yoda of global economy, South Korea is. But yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the CEO of United Health Insurance was shot dead in a targeted attack

in New York City. Brian Thompson was there for the insurance company's Investor Day, which was canceled after the shooting. Even though the shooting happened in a busy midtown Manhattan Street right next to Rockfeller Center, police are searching for the suspect who is still at large. Second, Donald Trump has named his nominee to lead the SEC, and that man is Paul Atkins. Paul Atkins, and the price of Bitcoin and Ben the Bitcoin rose 3% because Atkins is a crypto-friendly kind of guy. He's a former SEC commissioner, so he does have experience, not just laser eyes. And finally, 7-Eleven may have a U.S. IPO slushies. Let's make them happen for everyone.

Did you know that 7-Eleven is Japanese? Is that wild? Well, the convenience store may be pulling a show Hey Otani and coming to America. In fact, 7-Eleven generated $70 billion in sales last year, mostly on Long Island from the data we've seen and mostly selling Red Bulls. Now, time for the best fact yet. This one sent in by Eric Hahn and Katow. who listen to this show together, husband and wife, over in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Trivia. What's the steepest road, paved road, in the United States? Now, first thought was San Francisco because we actually have a leash for our son's stroller. That's how risky the hills are. There are a lot of hills in San Francisco. It's a good thing San Francisco never freezes because if there was ice on those streets, it would be chaos. The whole city would self-destruct. But the answer is not San Francisco, the steepest. road in the United States is Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. That tiny street has a 37-degree pitch. Oh, and by the way, it does freeze in Pittsburgh. It does freeze. So you're not driving on

that road if it's below 32. The Guinness Records have confirmed that Canton Avenue in Pittsburgh is officially the steepest street in America. Yeties, you look fantastic today. And to Zendaya, we are so sorry we've been saying Zendaya for like six years now. That is on us. And to Pete B... Sorry, we've been mispronouncing your name too. And if you drive a Porsche or Porsche, we all know it's really Porsche.

Porsche. Yides, if you haven't yet, check out our latest episode of The Best Idea Yet. The new episode, it's on the untold origin story of the Polaroid camera. We dropped the link in the episode description. In the meantime, Jack and I, we'll see you tomorrow. And before we go, a happy birthday. Eddie Ferria Rashid over in Atlanta, Georgia.

Up in 27th birthday to Alec Faham in Minnesota. And Maria Griceo is celebrating a birthday in Santo Amadar, Portugal. Happy seventh birthday to Axel Pirani in San Mateo, California. Jack, he's been a snacker since he was two years old. He's been listening before he could talk. Axel is the best one yet. And Ivana Laura is turning 40 years old down in lovely Washington, D.C. And thank you so much to everyone who shared that T-Boy was their top podcast on Spotify

Rat. Everyone who shared their app, it was so exciting for Jack and I to wake up and see all that love, all that appreciation, all your posts. Thank you so much for sharing all of it. If you haven't shared it yet, go ahead and do it. Tag us. It'll make Nick and me very happy. Oh, and by the way, we'll share our own raft in our newsletter, which comes out Saturday. So sign up for the newsletter. We got a link in the episode description. This is Jack. Nick and I both own stock of Apple and Spotify, and we both own one Bitcoin whose name is Ben. And this is Jack. I own stock of Netflix. Oh, really treating yourself to that Praseco over there.

We're on camera, you know? I'm not an AI host, Nick. I'm a human being. Yeah, one of the advantages they have is sobriety. PerSaco.