The Best One Yet - 🎙️🎙️“TBOY signs with Wondery” — Return of the TV Rerun. Deion’s $5M sunglasses. Snapchat’s surprise+.

Episode Date: September 25, 2023

Since the writers’ strike began, you’ve been watching reruns (Suits, Seinfeld, and Wheel of Fortune) — the Hollywood Strike has been bad for TV, but great for everything else. How did Snapchat hit 5M paying subscribers? It’s because Snapchat is like a telephone — and every other social media is like a phonebook.And Deion Sanders just caused one sunglass startup to experience a $5M sales surge — Because the best PR is personal.$NFLX $SNAPSubscribe to our newsletter: tboypod.com/newsletterWant merch, a shoutout, or got TheBestFactYet? Go to: www.tboypod.comFollow The Best One Yet on Instagram, Twitter, and Tiktok: @tboypodAnd now watch us on Youtube Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is Nick. This is Jack. Welcome back. It is Monday, September 25th. And today's pod, it is the best one yet. It is a T-boy, Jack. It is a T-boy, Nick. It is Jack.

We have gotten an announcement to make. But first, what's the first story for today's show? The top show on Netflix right now is suit. Suit. Suit. It's been around for 12 years. It's the one with Megan Markle in it. Because 2023 is the return of the rerun.

For our second story, everyone's talking about Twitter. Twitter, Twitter, Twitter. The top social media app right now is Snapchat. Snapchat is a telephone. The rest of social media is a phone book. And our third and final story is Blenders. The sunglasses startup just sold $5 million of glasses in one weekend. Because Dion Sanders put the personality in PR.

But Yeties, before we hit that wonderful mix. I mean, what a way to start a weekjack. What a mix man. There was a reason Nick and I were in L.A. all week. It wasn't just for the sun, the fun, or the Santa Monica Pier. Or the Dodger Dogs. No, but we're okay. They were okay.

We were actually in L.A. to sign a deal for this podcast. T. Boy has officially joined the Wondery Podcast Network. We repeat. T. Boy has officially joined the Wondery Podcast Network. Wondery, the top production company in podcasting is now our production company. And we like to think of Wondry as the HBO of Audio. It also rolls out the tongue, HBO of audio.

Does that mean we're the Game of Thrones of podcasting? I'm down with it. Let's roll with it, Jack. Targary and Dibs. Yeah, dives on dragons. Yeties, the top shows that you love, Wondery probably produces them. For example, Smartless, we crashed, how I built this. Those are all Wondery shows.

And now, so is the best one yet. But here's the most important thing you need to know today. Here's what you got to know, Yeties. The show will not change. And neither will your access to it. No, they won't. T-Boy was free, is free, and will remain free. Your T-boy ritual will stay the same, and so will the content.

Same Nick, same Jack, same. Takeaways. Even the same cookie crisp. But Yetis, what Jack and I do get is access to great sponsors. And you know we love our sponsors. And we'll also get great production resources. Because three years ago, Wondry, the production company, was

acquired by Amazon. And we recorded out of their stunning studio in lovely Los Angeles all week long. That studio felt like an upgrade. Yeah, this was definitely an upgrade. Now, Yeties, for six months, we actually ran ads ourselves. It was a lot of work. I'm still kind of cramping.

Jack. And we're excited someone else is going to do it for us, and no one does it better than Wondering will help us monetize our show with great sponsors. So we can keep doing this show forever. Oh, and yes, Yeties, this show, it's still owned by Nick and Jack, and it always will be. And it's still editorially independent, too. So Yeties, you've been on a journey with us. We are 1,000-plus episodes into this thing. Besties, this is good news that will get us to 10,000 episodes. Same T-boy, but bigger T-boy. It's another peak, but it is not. Not the summit. And this show has more peaks that will all climb together.

Yetis, let's celebrate this win. Jack, let's celebrate this win. Literally. Literally. And let's hit on three stories. Great job. 15 years before this song, 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. 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. For our first story, the biggest thing on TV this summer, it's the rerun.

The return of the rerun is about way more than just TV. Oh, Yeties whip out the calendars. Let's go back to July. Mid-July, July 24th. Jack, what show took over Netflix? Not a Tim Tebow documentary, which I watched. Which was great. And not the show about Queen Charlotte.

which was also fantastic, great costumes. Suits took over Netflix. Suits took over Netflix. Yadis, we're talking about suits. The drama about lawyers. It's clever because lawyers wear suits and they file lawsuits too. You gotta love that double-on-tondra. Season one of suits was on Netflix's top 10, 11 straight weeks this night.

All right, that's season one. What about season two of suits? Nine straight weeks. What about season three? Six straight weeks. Don't even get me started on it season four. For two straight weeks, season four of suits was on Netflix's top ten. And why is that interesting, Jack?

Because Suits is an old show. Yeah, it's like ancient. It came out 12 years ago. It's like DVD Blu-ray kind of a thing. It's from the pre-streaming era. We're talking about a show where Megan Markle's in a low-budget pantsuit and Harvey Specter looks pixelated. So why is suits trending right now? Well, the answer, Jack, is another interesting thing.

Suits hit Netflix the same week the actors joined the writers on Strike Against Hollywood. Yet he's here's what Jack and I found fascinating. about this story. The big winner of the writer's actor strike against Hollywood Studios, it's old TV. That's why we're calling this summer the return of the reroute. Streaming platforms, cable networks, they don't have a new episode of Yellowstone to whip out for you. Because all the actors are on strike. And they don't want to invest in another season of stranger things until the strike is over. So, Hollywood has turned to reruns. And we're seeing it in the data. According to Kuloo, a hilariously named data company,

viewership of old shows has doubled starting in July. We're talking True Detective Season 1. You're watching Parks and Rec Season 2. Zelling Sunset, below deck. Pilot episode of Survivor? Oh, maybe 14 hours of Pat Sejack pointing at stuff, Jack. For the first time in 18 years, this year, there's no new season of Grey's Anatomy. ABC is just doing reruns and game shows.

And you're watching those reruns of Steve Harvey spinning the wheel, family feud style. Vanne White just became our best friend. friend. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over in the entertainment industry? The writing strike is hurting TV, but helping everything else. Yeties, that report from Kulhu, it showed that people are watching more reruns during the strike. It also showed that while people are watching more reruns, they're watching less TV overall. And while we watch less TV, guess what we all did instead? We're listening to podcasts and reading more books. According to this report, podcast watching

doubled and searches for books tripled. This summer during the writer strike, people are still consuming content. They've just shifted which type of content. The writer strike is hurting TV, but it's helping everything else. For our second story, something huge just happened over at Snapchat. The huge thing that happened is that Snapchat Plus announced 5 million paid users. 5 million paid users. The reason?

Snapchat is completely. different than the rest of social media. All right, Eddie. So Jack and I, we were staying in Santa Monica last week, which is actually the headquarters of Snapchat, isn't it, Jack? That's right. They're right there on Venice Beach. So we went through our notes because Jack and I have a long, long history of our show notes. And we noticed we haven't covered Snapchat in over a year. That's a long time. We also noticed big news just dropped from Snapchat.

Snapchat just announced something big. They announced five million people are paying $4 a month for Snapchat Plus. Yeah, 5 million people are paying for a Snapchat. subscription. Five million people is two Chicago. That's six San Francisco's. Five million people is 12 Miami's. Yeah, he's for comparison. Twitter. They won't even tell us how many people pay for their Twitter subscription. Which means it's probably not a good number. Right. But the third party data shows it's probably 600,000-ish. That means that Snapchat has nearly 10 times as many subscribers as Elon's Twitter does. So Jack and I were fascinated. How is Snapchat getting so many

subscribers. Why is Snapchat subscription working? Because Snapchat Plus provides value. Yeah, 23 different kinds of value. Now, Yeti, Snapchat Plus, here's what it doesn't do. It does not eliminate ads. You still see ads if you pay for it. But Snapchat Plus does offer 23 features that you don't get if you don't pay. Yeah, if you're a visual person, you're going to want these things. Like to customize your app with wallpaper and colors, Jack. You need to be on Snapchat plus. If you want to use emoji. And then, I don't know, upgrade to bit moji, Jack. You gotta pay for Snapchat Plus. Or if you want to see the view count for the videos you post.

Or restore your SnapStriek. Or want to hear custom notification sounds? Adam, do we have any? You have to pay for Snapchat Plus. And yeah, it comes with a badge checkmark. Yet he's all those features. That's why Snapchat Plus is making money where Twitter's subscription is not. Snapchat Plus is loaded with perks.

And Jack, why is Snapchat so focused on all of us paying for something? Snapchat? Because ads don't work on Snapchat. Which is a unique thing about Snapchat. So Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies down the street over at Snapchat? Snapchat is a telephone. The rest of social media is a phone book. All right, here's a hero stat for you. Get this. In 20 countries, Snapchat is used by 90% of people aged 13 to 24. 90%. And the number one reason Gen Zers use Snapchat is to chat with friends and family. Okay, so Snapchat, so Snapchat, is for messaging and communicating. Which is the same purpose a telephone was.

And that's different than Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or TikTok. Right. The rest of social media isn't for messaging and communication. It's for browsing and scrolling. Like looking something up in a phone book. That difference between Snapchat and the rest of social media is why Snapchat can't rely on ads. When you browse Instagram, an ad is natural. Like an ad in an old school phone book. But when messaging a buddy on Snapchat,

jamming an ad in there. It was kind of awkward. It's like interrupting a phone call. We wouldn't accept that. Yet is because Snapchat is like a phone. It's hard to succeed with ads. And that is why Snap is obsessed with subscription. And everyone else is obsessed with ads. Snapchat is a telephone. The rest of social media is a phone book. For our third and final story, this one's wild. Blenders. The sunglasses startup just sold $5 million of shade.

in one weekend. How? It's all thanks to Dion Sanders. Because the best PR is personal. But yet, this story begins in San Diego 12 years ago.

San Diego. With Chase Fisher, who was trying to be a surf coach. Yeah, he was trying to become a surfer, but it wasn't really working out. So here's what he did. Here's what he did. He borrowed $2,000 from a roommate

to start a company. That company became blenders. It was a sunglasses startup. Yeah, like big, bright, 1980-style, like pit viper glasses. You know what I'm talking about? The one's wearing them right here on the screen. You can see them right here.

They are metallic and chrome design. Yeah, they cover your face like the oversized glasses the senior citizens are wearing these days. Yeah. Oh, we got some right here. Got some over. As you can see, blender shades should probably come with like a neon body suit, shouldn't they, Jack? I think the ones you're wearing are specifically for cycle. Jack just threw them on right now.

Well, yet here's where things get interesting. Twelve years later, this sunglasses startup was worth $90 million and they've expanded to ski goggles and other stuff. Things were going well, but then Coach Prime happened. One coach, one insult, and $5 million of sunglasses sales. Yeties, we covered Dion Sanders a couple weeks ago. Yes, we did. This is the two-sport legend who both played in a World Series in baseball and won a Super Bowl in football. And right now, he's the coach of the most exciting team in sports right now, the University of Colorado.

Even though they lost to Oregon this past Saturday, Dion Sanders has turned around the team and made the Buffalo's a national story. But here's the thing, Yetis, not everyone loves Dion's style, including their in-state rival Colorado State. The head coach of the Colorado State football team threw shade at Dion. Literally. He said that Dion should take his glasses off when he's indoors. But get this, Dion's glasses are a collaboration with Blender's glasses. So Dion loves those shades, and he's not taking them off. So, in response to that diss, Dion bought Blender's glasses for his whole football.

team. If Deion got interviewed, he would hand a pair to the interviewer. If Deon encountered a fan in the streets, he gave her the glasses. During one TV interview that was televised with Deon, Blender sold a million dollars worth of his shade. Blender sold one pair of sunglasses every single second. Get this. Then Colorado played Colorado State that weekend. And then when Deon beat his rival, who had insulted him wearing his sunglasses, sales of those shades hit $5 million. It was quite a spectacle. Nearly 100,000 pairs of Dion sunglasses were sold. Are we going to wear the shades for the takeaway?

Jack, since you're already wearing the shades, feels like maybe we should hit the takeaway. Actually, can't even see your eyeballs. So, Jack, what's the takeaway for our buddies over at Blender's shades? The best PR is personal. Yet, it's a funny thing, Jack and I noticed. These shades, they've actually been sold out for over a week. In fact, these shades won't even arrive until December.

That means that the sales weren't really about the sunglasses. They were about supporting Dion. Dion took the comments about his glasses personally. It's personal became the rallying cry for the team that week. So buying Dion's sunglasses wasn't about fashion. It was about consumer activism. Buying these sunglasses have become a signal of values. Buying these sunglasses has been like making a campaign donation to the Dion who you love.

What's the business lesson here, Yetis? The best PR is personal. Can you whip up the takeaways for us to kick off the week? Because no new shows are getting made, suits was the top show on Netflix this summer. It's the return of the rerun. The writer's strike is hurting TV, but it's helping everything else.

For our second story, Snapchat can't rely on ads like the rest of social media can. Because Snapchat is like a phone. The rest of social media is like a phone book. And our third and final story is Blenders. They're the new thing in sunglasses, thanks to Dion Sanders. The lesson for business? Best PR is personal.

But Yeties, this pod's not over yet. Here's what else you need to know today. First, the auto worker's strike has expanded to 38 more GM and Chrysler plants. But the strikes weren't expanded at Ford thanks to progress in the negotiations. And second, Democratic Senator Bob Menendez was indicted for bribery after a crazy FBI raid. The FBI found a half a million dollars in cash, $100,000 worth of gold. bars and a Mercedes that was illegally obtained. Hopefully not in the same closet. And they found Google searches that said, how much can I

sell my gold bars for? And finally, Bright Line, that private rail train that we told you about on the pot a few weeks ago, it just expanded in Florida. This is the private Amtrak competitor, and now it goes from Miami all the way to Orlando. Orlando. At 160 miles an hour. Pretty impressive. It's fast. Now, time for the best fact. This one's sent in by Hans Becker from lovely Sydney Australia. Nick, you know some cheeses are hard in summer soft? Yeah, I've heard that. All the hard ones have Italian names.

Yeah, it's interesting. Why do so many hard cheeses come from Italy? It's a good question. It's because of the Romans. The Romans, classic. When the Roman warriors were traveling, they needed to pack food. And honestly, hard cheeses pack better than a mozzarella. Hard cheeses can last for a while in a leather backpack of a Roman.

So, the central Italy region has always been focused and known for. Hard cheeses. Because of the Romans. From Parmesan to Becarino, you can thank the Romans. The Roman Empire. Still thinking about it. Yiddies, you look fantastic today, Jack. It's just amazing celebrating wins with you all week.

That was a really fun time. I like how you got the bacon bits, by the way. They weren't bacon bits. They were panchetta. Give me some respect over here. It's pronounced panchetta, Jack. We had Adam. We had Rachel.

It was wonderful. The whole T-Boy team. The whole T-boy team. It's a day to celebrate the wins. So much more to come, man. Yetis, we can't wait to see you tomorrow on the best one yet. Can't wait. And before we go, speaking of Romans,

Martino Pietropoli, Bon Cumpliano, over in Ravigo, Italy. And happy birthday to Eric Kim in Houston, Texas. And Colby Hernandez, enjoy that 41st over in Billings, Montana. Happy 12th birthday to Jacob Rieger, who's celebrating down at Disney World. And Alex Chapples turned in 11 in his car with his dad right now.

Enjoy that drive. guys. And happy birthday to Tina Lee, who's taking the day off to hang out with her kid up on the Upper West Side. And Jared Stewart is turning 30 down in the big Salt Lake. Happy birthday to Hannah McNeil, who's having a quarter-life crisis over in Denver. No worry, it's going to be fine. And Derek and Caitlin Toomey are kicking off their honeymoon, not too shabby down in St. Lucia. Happy two-year work aversary to Nick Lanzah up on the Upper West Side, who's taken a leap over to the startup world. And he's been listening to this show since our very first episode, Jack, legendary yetty.

And congratulations to Eric and Stephanie Osorio, who had a new baby boy in St. Petersburg that big sister Sasha is going to love. And Long and Faye, congratulations on kicking off your business school era. They wanted to know if we had any advice from them, Jack. My advice going to business school, don't worry if you miss some of the social events. Jack and I always say, FOMO is okay. Don't worry about it. You're going to face the potential for FOMO. Just focus on what's important to you.

Say yes to things you want to do, but you can say no to things. some things too. That's Nick and Jack B-School lesson. That'll be $200,000. This is Jack. I own stock of Netflix and Ford. All right, Nick, before we get the shell. Oh. I have a gift for you. A New Yorker Tepad.

It's not the bag. No, it's just the packaging. That's just the package. It's a multi-part gift. It's a multi-part gift. Oh, my God. Are you serious for Maxi? That's for Maxi. Now, that's Wilder's favorite book. Wilder's name is in the title of where the Wild things are. And guess who the main character is called?

It's a Max. The main character is Max. It's Max. Proof that Wilder and Max are going to be best friends. We're meant to be in a book. Oh my God. And we'll be podcasting pretty soon together. All right.

Grab the second item. Amazing. This is such a great unboxing. Oh, for the little guy for his shoes. Air Max. Oh, my God. Nike sneakers. They're custom without being custom.

It's got his name on it, Nick. Oh, my God, dude. That is incredible. Is this the cutest shoe you've ever seen in your list? I mean, that's adorable. I don't even think he wears that. He's got back to Cartel's name written right on it. Are you kidding me? That is a brilliant gift.

Also, the shoebox is adorable. There's one more item. I'd like you to open. I think there's a card in there. Card is great. Can you read it out loud for us? Nick and Molly, I'm honored to contribute this $100 to Max's $529 college savings account. He wears the Nike Air Macs.

Snickers, you can tell him that he owns part of the company. Love Jack. You got to buy Nike stock for that under $100. Oh my God. I will actually buy Nike stack with that. And then from this point on, this is Nick, this is Jack, and our sons own Nike stock.

Yeah, there you go. Add it to the disclaimer.