The Mail Cart: Monday, August 10th

👋 Welcome to The Mail Cart. This is Warner, founder of AvA. Connect with me here + follow our IG page for daily resources.

📝 We highlight the music industry’s biggest unsung heroes, Christopher Nolan breaks his box office record, ‘Spider-Man’ is almost in the all time top 10 already and Spotify feature may kill podcasts.

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⭐ The past two weeks I’ve been at Lolla and Outside Lands interviewing everyone from RÜFÜS DU SOL to Suki Waterhouse, but the part I’ll remember forever has nothing to do with the biggest names on the lineup.

At each festival, we’ve been interviewing the “unsung heroes” behind the scenes: travel coordinators, videographers, groundskeepers, marketing managers, golf cart dispatchers, assistants and the people doing the thousand invisible jobs that make these massive events actually happen. And every time, I’m reminded how little we know about the people we walk past every day.

One security guard I met has been working events for 40 years on the weekends, while teaching art to elderly students during the week. Another sanitation worker escaped war at a young age losing both his parents. You’d probably pass them on your way to watch your favorite artists 4 white claws deep without ever thinking twice.

A few tears have been shed between artists and their unsung heroes. My eyes may have watered once or twice too but I promise it's the allergies.

I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things with AvA over the last decade, but I hope this ends up being one of the most meaningful. There are so many incredible people working behind the scenes in Entertainment that deserve to be celebrated. Our new series "Unsung Hero" does just that.

AvA LIVE Lineup Booked In Partnership With:

What do the creator of Love Story, Curry Baker's manager, Bran Flakezz & The internet's Creative Director have in common?

They are all joining us on AvA LIVE this Wednesday. AvA LIVE is our interactive live show helping you break into and build an Entertainment career. Wednesdays @ 12:30pm PT, or rewatch anytime.

Catch up on YouTube & Spotify.

⭐ Spotify new feature “could end the podcast business as we know it”

Spotify is testing a “better” skip button for podcast ads. Some Premium users can more easily jump past host-read/direct-sold ads and filler, but ads sold directly by Spotify can’t be skipped.
That could seriously hurt podcast economics. Publishers make a lot of money selling their own ads. If Spotify makes those ads easier to avoid while protecting its own inventory, it gives Spotify more control, and potentially makes direct-sold podcast ads less valuable.
The bigger story: podcasts are becoming video/media brands, not just audio shows. As audiences migrate toward YouTube, Netflix and short-form clips for discovery, this is another push away from the old “download + host-read ad” podcast model toward platforms owning more of the audience, distribution and monetization.

⭐ Sad news from TikTok

They closed their Nashville office after 2 years of operations and laid off 250 employees in the process to “streamline operations that better line up with the team's long-term growth.” Buzz word central and really sad for a lot of hardworking and talented people.

⭐ Netflix news you need to know:

Advertisers nearly doubled their commitments to Netflix this year, with the company expecting $3B in ad revenue in 2026 (2x last year). Pretty wild for a company that spent a decade saying ads would never happen.
Live sports are becoming the cheat code. Sponsorships for the 2027 Women’s World Cup are already sold out, with almost all in-game ad inventory gone. WWE, NFL, MLB and now FIFA are turning Netflix into something much closer to a traditional TV network.
It’s now competing with Disney, YouTube and Amazon for ad dollars. More viewers + live events + its own ad tech = Netflix building a monster business on top of streaming.
BONUS: They are developing a New York Yankees scripted drama, put together by the MLB, Jason Bateman’s ‘Aggregate Films,’ and writer Josh Wakely.
DOUBLE BONUS: Netflix had someone “live” in a LA billboard to promote their new film ‘The Last House’

Credit: Netflix

⭐ ‘The Odyssey’ passed $1 billion at the box office and is officially Christopher Nolan’s best performing movie ever

The film has been out for less than a month, and it beats the previous best of ‘Batman: The Dark Knight Rises’ from 2012.

(Bonus Note: 2019 was the year with the most $1 billion movies at 9, and we currently sit at 5 with ‘Dune 3’ and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ still yet to come)

⭐ ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is already the 12th highest grossing movie of all time with over $1.6 billion and counting

Spidey and friends also posted the 3rd best sophomore weekend for a movie ever. Have a feeling this could go top 5…

Credit: Wikipedia

⭐ LIV Golf’s new lead investor has signed a term sheet to fund the league through 2030 in a deal that makes it the first sports league to have the players be majority equity holders.

⭐ Disney is adding podcasts to Disney+

“Hey Jonas!” hits Disney+ and Hulu on Aug. 14, timed to the same-day premiere of “Camp Rock 3.” Five more iHeartMedia video podcasts to follow. Everyone seems pretty scared of YouTube, and rightfully so.