Believe it or not but YouTube is now 20 years old. One of the perks of its two-decade history is it serves as a time capsule for celebrities before they found fame – so here’s Barry Keoghan introducing his website, Max Verstappen prophesying his F1 championship wins, and Erling Haaland rapping.
Scroll down to read about health studies, AI therapists, and the people’s Oscar favorites.
Stats to power your week
📹 Just to put some numbers on YouTube’s impact after 20 years – it’s now used by two-thirds of the online population (outside China, where it’s blocked), and by 54% of people at least once a day. Its global growth might get another boost with plans for auto-dubbing translation tools to be rolled out across more creators. GWI Core
⚽ European football is heading to the US — maybe. UEFA and the European Club Association are in talks with an American-owned agency to manage commercial rights for European men's club competitions. And the timing makes sense: since late 2022, the percentage of Americans who follow the UEFA Champions League has shot up by 41%. GWI Core (USA)
🏆 This year’s Super Bowl was the most-watched in history. Maybe you tuned in for the game, maybe for the commercials — or maybe just for Kendrick Lamar’s flared jeans. But here’s a twist: more people working in advertising follow the NFL than stay-at-home dads. Seems like for some, the Super Bowl isn’t just entertainment — it’s research. GWI Core
💘 With Valentine’s Day behind us, it’s time to check in on dating app users — are they finding “the one” or just swiping away? Among users of the most popular apps, Bumble takes the lead for the most users planning to get engaged in the next six months (7%), followed by Tinder (6%), and Hinge (5%). GWI Core
💼 Layoffs have been making headlines — but who’s feeling it the most? Workers in building and construction have seen the biggest jump in job security concerns, up 59% since 2020. Meanwhile, those in legal services seem to be breathing easier, with a 39% decrease in concern over the same timeframe. GWI USA
What’s on our radar
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has announced a public roadmap update for ChatGPT, but the more important development may be for its Model Spec, which lays out how the company trains its AI models to behave. One likely outcome: it will be more willing to discuss controversial topics.
If you want to get a glimpse of where AI is challenging existing benchmarks, look at medicine. Recent studies have shown that ChatGPT can perform better as a therapist than most human professionals, and that chatbots can boost the performance of doctors.
But then again – research has shown that using AI can reduce critical thinking skills. In the field of software engineering, right at the frontline of AI adoption, some are wondering how much junior developers actually know about code.
Last week we highlighted the auction of AI art at Christie’s, and the debate about this rumbles on. Elsewhere the Getty Museum has acquired its first image generated with AI, rapper Ludacris is teaming up with AI music providers, while Thomson Reuters has won a landmark copyright case, which indicates that fair use is not accepted as a defense for training models on proprietary data.
Is beauty hitting a breaking point? After years of booming growth, sales in the beauty and skincare industry are starting to slow. Whether it’s inflation-tightening wallets or consumers feeling overwhelmed by endless choices, something’s shifting.
Instead of attending a collegiate campus, content creators are heading to a different kind of campus. New spaces are popping up where creators can join educational events, edit, hold business meetings, and, of course, film content.
Health tech is having a moment and Apple is here for it. After five years, the company is launching a new health study, signaling just how big the intersection of wellness and technology has become.
Chart of the week
Each year, we ask consumers which film they think will take home Best Picture at the Oscars — and usually, there’s a clear favorite. Last year, "Oppenheimer" was the undisputed pick across every country and generation we track. This time around, the results are split — some have faith in "Wicked," others are backing "Dune: Part Two," while "I'm Still Here" and "Emilia Perez" also have strong believers.
Brazil is all in for "I'm Still Here" (45%) — which is fitting, given that it’s a Brazilian film. The Philippines is going all in on "Wicked," along with the US and UK. Meanwhile, "Dune" is leading predictions in France, Germany, and Malaysia — which makes sense given that it was directed by the French-Canadian Denis Villeneuve, and stars French-American actor Timothée Chalamet.
While "The Brutalist" took home Best Motion Picture (Drama) at the Golden Globes, it sits low on the list of expected winners— suggesting that award season momentum might not translate to Oscar night success. In the meantime, we’ll be holding space for the winner to shine through.
Local lowdown
Nigeria’s self-made mindset
Success isn’t just a goal in Nigeria — it’s an expectation. 9 in 10 Nigerians say being successful is important to them, the highest rate in the world. And unlike in many countries where career progression follows a slow, structured climb, Nigerians carve their own path.
That drive for self-reliance shows up in other ways too. Nearly 6 in 10 Nigerians use social media to make new contacts, reinforcing the idea that success is as much about who you know as what you know. Some of this stems from a deeply embedded trans-generational entrepreneurial culture among the country’s Igbo community.
With a booming digital economy, a young population, and an entrepreneurial spirit, Nigeria’s business leaders aren’t just climbing the ranks — they’re building them from the ground up.
