Hello! A survey of 2,778 AI experts found that the average researcher believes that there's a ~5% chance the technology could lead to human extinction… but, until then, at least we have a shiny new button. Today we explore:
Gilded Lilly
Yesterday, pharma giant Eli Lilly announced the launch of ‘LillyDirect’, a direct-to-consumer telehealth service designed to simplify medicine deliveries for users, particularly for popular weight-loss drugs like the newly approved Zepbound. The service will widen access to the medicine, which has exploded in popularity, with tens of thousands prescriptions for the drug being filled every week, often at a list price of more than $1,000 per month.
Bigger pharma
Alongside similar direct delivery offerings from CVS Health, Walmart, and others, Lilly’s move is the latest in an industry shift towards cutting out pharma middlemen to combat continuously surging costs. Data from the OECD reveals how sharply US pharmaceutical costs have soared relative to global counterparts — in 2021, American spending on pharmaceuticals broke the $1,400 barrier. That’s some ~$390 more per person than in Germany, the second-highest spending country.
Interestingly, Eli Lilly’s strategy isn’t anything particularly novel. Going direct to consumers has been a focus for companies in a swathe of industries for years, with everything from sportswear (Nike, Lululemon), to eyeglasses (Warby Parker), and even mattresses (Casper, Emma) being sold straight to customers. What’s different this time is that it’s healthcare, an industry notorious for multiple layers of costs between patients and providers.
Weight Watchers — which has moved into providing weight-loss drugs itself and has rebranded as WW — saw its stock slim down on the news, falling 12% yesterday.
‘Tis the season
The Golden Globes will get the film and TV awards season properly underway on Sunday, but they’ll likely look a little different thanks to a host of fresh categories, an updated voting body, redesigned trophies, and even a new network.
Comedian Jo Koy will host the revamped ceremony, with critics predicting Barbenheimer domination and a host of TV gongs for Chartr office favorite Succession, as the awards show attempts to drag itself out of a prolonged reputational and ratings rough patch.
Bronze age
In 2021, the now-dissolved Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the show’s ex-organizers, came under fire for controversies ranging from financial corruption to racism and discrimination. The accusations saw celebrities boycott the awards, Tom Cruise return his previous Globes, and the 2022 ceremony take place behind closed doors.
New owners Dick Clark Productions will be hoping to leave those controversies behind with their shiny new ceremony. From 1998 to 2020, the Globes broadcast attracted a 19.3 million audience on average, even with a huge drop off in 2008 owing to a writers’ strike, but viewership for the most recent shows has slumped to 6.9 million and 6.3 million, respectively.
Box on demand
Roku is hitting rewind, returning to its roots as a hardware innovator after announcing a “Pro” lineup of TVs, taking the company firmly into competition with other high-end TV manufacturers, with price tags for the new range that could reach close to $1,500.
Entering into the premium market with its own TV — after years of appealing to the masses — is a continuation of Roku’s strategy to get its platform software into as many homes as possible. For a long time, that meant partnering with manufacturers to have Roku software pre-installed.
Left to its own devices
Having started as an internal project at Netflix, Roku spun-out into its own company in 2008, launching its first set-top box and becoming a crucial enabler of the streaming revolution that let millions of viewers watch whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted. Having sold 10 million devices in its initial 6 years, the Roku boxes became a springboard for a much larger, much more profitable, platform business.
That platform segment, which includes advertising and content distribution, has undergone a remarkable evolution. In 2017, the revenue split between devices and platform was nearly a balanced 50/50. Fast forward to today, and the platform commands an overwhelming 85% of the total revenue.
Indeed, even if its successful in selling TVs for a thousand bucks (or more), Roku probably won’t make that much money from them: the company has sold its devices for less than cost, reporting a negative gross profit margin on its device sales in 4 of the last 5 quarters. Even so, every TV sold is another customer on its all-important platform.
• New kid on the blocks: A 13-year-old has become the first player ever to officially beat the long-considered unbeatable game of Tetris, breaking the software at Level 157.
• The US national debt has hit a new all-time high of $34 trillion, according to the Treasury Department.
• Odds, one out: Scientists have found that coin flips are actually not exactly 50/50… demonstrating a 1% bias for whichever side of the coin faces up before tossing it.
• At-home fitness platform Peloton is teaming up with TikTok to share workout content on the social media app, following a sales slump that saw shares fall 23% last year.
• 2023’s top news stories, according to Google Search Trends.
• Phenomenal exploration of how pop culture has influenced baby names.
Off the charts: What dominant web browser, about which we were charting last August, has started deleting cookies for millions of users? [Answer below].
