Amazon’s Damned-If-You-Don’t Pitch; Why Regular Isn’t Easy

 
Comic: Video Scarcity

Amazon has used the presence of shady or unauthorized sellers on its platform as leverage to bring big brands to the negotiating table. 

This newsletter recently chronicled Nike’s begrudging return to Amazon. And Nintendo just pulled its new Switch 2 from Amazon over the platform’s poor management of resold or knockoff products. But for a supplement brand like AG1 , it’s an even bigger problem, as The Information reports.

AG1, formerly Athletic Greens, is the bellwether of the green supplement powder category. And it’s never sold on Amazon. Until it did.  

For one thing, AG1 may have tapped out its market on social media, where the brand has lived. Amazon represents a massive pool of potential new shoppers.

But there’s also this weird issue of resold goods. Some Amazon seller accounts peddle knock–offs using AG1 branding and terminology; others resell actual AG1. But even when it’s the real deal, the packaging, customer service and all sorts of other factors are out of the brand’s control. 

The pileup of bad reviews from AG1 sellers on Amazon reflects on the real AG1, because that’s who people think they’re buying from. 

Now that AG1 lists on Amazon, Amazon actually responds to takedown requests of unauthorized sellers.

More Like Irregular Viewers

YouTube is designing new creator analytics metrics that should help content producers better understand their audience, Search Engine Journal reports. 

The metrics gauge the loyalty of viewers. YouTube will define a video’s audience as new, casual or regular viewers.

New viewers are people who haven’t seen any videos from the creator within a given window of time. Casual viewers return to an account between one and five months per year. Regular viewers have viewed someone’s videos at least monthly for six consecutive months within the past year. 

The metrics are still pretty bare bones. But the idea is to help creators get those casual viewers to be more regular or loyal audiences. The new definitions might also be a selling point to advertisers, if creators can boast of certifiably regular viewers. 

However, YouTube cautioned in the announcement that earning regular viewers is “a high bar to reach,” and that many channels will see fewer so-called regulars than they might expect.  

We Still Pivoting To Video?

Speaking of engagement metrics, Substack is pushing hard for its publishing base to introduce more video to audiences. And one of the big advantages for creators who post vids on Substack is the depth of audience metrics the platform divulges, Digiday reports. 

As you read in the above blurb, YouTube discloses very little on a per-viewer basis. Substack, though, shows individual open rates, subscription history and demographic info. 

Substack isn’t alone in chasing video. Spotify has also seen YouTube’s phenomenal growth in the podcast category, which was practically by accident because it simply is the open video hub of the internet. 

Michael Conniff, a writer who covers startups and investments, says he’s always defaulted to podcasting with video “largely because of YouTube’s reach.” But when Substack made it simple to post video-only newsletters and updates, “it became low-hanging fruit for me.”

But Wait! There’s More

Grammarly is acquiring email efficiency tool Superhuman, hoping to develop its AI toolkit. [Reuters]

The Swedish ad tech company DanAds, received a loan of 21 million euros from The European Investment Bank. [EIB]    

Paramount has officially agreed to pay $16 million to Trump‘’s future presidential library to settle what legal experts maintain was a frivolous lawsuit. [CNN] 

G/O Media sells gaming news site Kotaku and begins winding down operations. [NYT]

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