Sam Blumenthal

What is revolutionary about on-demand streaming in general and Netflix in particular is that the service has commoditized time: on Netflix Sunday at 9pm is no different than Tuesday at 11am or Friday at 6pm; there is no prime time. Thus Netflix will release original series all at once, because why not? Best to maximize the number of minutes over... See more

While this motivation may be latent—even subconscious, for most—in the U.S., it’s an economic driver that’s well understood in China, fueling a thriving video ecommerce market. In Asia, the powerful force of video entertainment shopping has spawned a livestream ecommerce industry akin to professional movie production. It’s more than a place where... See more

This new technology builds on Pinterest's industry-first inclusive product feature, skin tone ranges, first launched in 2018. Pinterest's Head of Inclusive Product Annie Ta says, "Our mission on the Inclusive Product team is to help everyone feel like Pinterest is a place for them. As a visual discovery platform, we have an opportunity and... See more

Gen Z and millennial cohorts had the highest livestreaming usage rate worldwide in 2020, according to data from Euromonitor. In China, millennials used livestreaming the most at 41.9%, and in the U.S., Gen Zers used it the most at 21.5%.

Founded by Zhang, an early TikTok investor in 2017, Shop LIT Live received a $6 million seed round led by CRCM Ventures in April 2021. It currently has slightly under 100,000 monthly active users, over 10,000 weekly active users and “thousands” of daily active users, said Zhang. Month-to-month user numbers are growing by 40%, he said. The platform... See more

“Influencers, they understand their community,” Bogliari said, which makes the viewing experience feel more personalized, and could then lead to higher conversion rates. He added that influencers make livestream shopping “more relatable and appear less commercial.”