The Netflix show that has added £275m to the UK economy
Plus a look at the business of general elections
Hello,
With less than four weeks until we all go to the polls, it’s worth pondering the business of general elections.
The UK pales in insignificance to the US even with the new spending cap, which enables parties contesting all seats to spend £34 million compared to £19.5 million. To put this into perspective, around $14 billion was spent at the 2020 presidential election.
So where does all this money go? As technology has changed, so too has the answer to this question. Meta was the biggest beneficiary at the 2019 election as the parties deployed targeted ads across Facebook and Instagram. This will be the first TikTok election and from some of the memes flying about, the parties are embracing it.
The parties still spend millions creating and distributing flyers which isn’t likely to go away anytime soon. Fast food companies also benefit from the campaigning with the Tories totting up a £22,735.14 bill with Uber Eats in 2019. The Lib Dems were by far the biggest frequenters of Pret A Manger spending £1,102.79 of the £1,652.42 declared across all parties.
All expenses have to be submitted to the Electoral Commission, meaning if you’re so inclined, a big spreadsheet will be released with the 2024 spending in the next year or so.
Spare no expense,
Hugo
Chief Expense Inspector
The Business of Stuff
The Stuff
Mouse-jigglers sacked by Wells Fargo 🖱️ - 12 employees were let go after they were caught using software that made them appear as if they were online. Use of this type of software has soared since the pandemic as far more people work from home and want to put their feet up without getting the dreaded ‘Away’ yellow circle. You’d think most people would assume that a company that is keeping an eye on their status would also be able to see what dodgy bits of software they’ve got installed on their computer.
Tesco says people are buying more 🛒 - sales are up 5% in the last quarter which they’ve put down to growing consumer confidence, people switching from rivals and eating in more. They are expecting an added boost from the Euros and other sporting events this summer as people get the drinks and snacks in.
The age of the influencer may be on the decline 🤳 - most people of a certain age have flirted with the idea of becoming an influencer. Who hasn’t started a second Instagram account about their dog/pints/food? The appeal is clear, bin off the day job and galavant about taking piccies for money. The reality, however, is not quite so glamorous, most don’t actually get paid that much despite all the freebies - and in France, where many influencers have migrated to live for the Paris aesthetic, you have to pay tax on them.
The price of uranium is up 233% ☢️ - demand is surging as many countries begin to implement long-term plans to increase nuclear energy production to move away from fossil fuels. There are currently 61 nuclear plants under construction globally, with another 61 in planning and over 300 that have been proposed.
Musicians are scaling back their tours 🏟️ - the sky-high prices of arena tickets have led bands like The Black Keys to cancel and reschedule their entire tour at smaller venues. You’ve obviously got a couple of Taylor Swift-level artists who cause seismic activity when they come to town but most musicians do not fall into this category. Agents want to sell out arena tours but for many artists the demand just isn’t there.
Containers lost at sea hit an all-time low 🚢 - in 2023, out of an estimated 500 million just 221 were lost and out of those a third were recovered. If anyone tries to flog you anything, saying it fell off the back off a boat, probably not the case.
The votes are in on plane passenger etiquette 🛬 - the survey was done in America and most of it is fairly unsurprising. A surprising 29% of people think it’s ok to stand up the moment the plane lands. After the revolution even standing up the moment the seat belt sign goes off shall be punishable by a lengthy wait at immigration.
Chess.com has nearly monopolised the online chess market ♟️ - lockdown and The Queen’s Gambit have fuelled a growth in the popularity of the game and the perfectly named website has capitalised on it through a series of acquisitions and piggybacking on the streaming trend. Watching people do a thing has become very popular and chess is no different. Last year they reported 12.5 billion games were played on their platform.
Apple sort-of launches Apple Intelligence 🍏 - they’ve been slow to the party and whilst their promo video was very swish and you can see how it could be a game-changer, it doesn’t seem like the product or technology is quite there. They are, for the moment, relying on OpenAI to provide the language model, as they’ve been unable to create one as good.
Bridgerton universe adds £275m to UK economy 👗 - Netflix has said they have worked with over 5000 businesses during the production of the show and they came up with the figure through direct and indirect spending. They were perhaps looking to feature in party manifestos as a core pillar of the UK’s growth strategy.
Quote of the week
“Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower