Axios Media Trends
March 12, 2019
1 big thing: Social good is the new sales pitch
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
2. The phoenix companies
Looking at the Axios Harris Poll 100 reputation rankings, it's interesting to see how differently some companies have responded to crises.
What we're watching: Rising from the ashes of controversy, some brands have been able to overcome major scandals, while others have struggled to regain public trust.
Why it matters: Brands that have faced major public scandals over the past few years that have been able to recover in public reputation are those that have fundamentally sought to change the culture or DNA of their companies post-scandal.
- General Motors, which faced two of its worst scandals in a row with the 2009 bankruptcy and its 2014 ignition recall scandal, has largely won over the public over the past few years. CEO Mary Barra has been credited for taking ownership of the crisis and revamping GM's culture in response.
- Volkswagen, which was slow at first to respond to the diesel emissions scandal of 2015, has been able to turn around its brand and business, by pouring billions into a company reboot that focuses on electric car production.
Meanwhile, Boeing is now grappling with its nightmare scenario of deadly back-to-back 737 MAX 8 crashes.
3: Bundle wars heat up
Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
4. Free apps drive adoption of digital TV ads
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio/Axios
📺 Startling stat: Netflix binge rate
5. Fox News under fire
6. Media news from SXSW
SXSW panel (from l to r): Axios' Sara Fischer, BuzzFeed's Shani Hilton, US News Partnerships at Twitter's Nick Sallon, Dunkin's Tony Weisman, and CNN Digital's Christine Cook. Photo: Rachel Racoosin/Axios
7. Robocall rumble
HBO late-night host John Oliver called out the FCC on his show last week for the robocall problem plaguing American cellphones, drawing nationwide attention to the problem that almost every American is dealing with.
Why it matters: It's one of the most complained-about issues in America. The FCC gets roughly 200,000 complaints each year about robocalls. Nearly 48 billion robocalls made in 2018, according to YouMail Robocall Index.
Driving the news: While the problem impacts almost every cellphone user in America, data from Robocall Index shows that area codes from certain parts of the country are much more likely to be used for robocalls.
How it works: Robocalls from certain areas in the U.S. don't necessarily reflect where the originator of the call is coming from. Often scammers use a very popular technique called "neighbor spoofing," in which they copy the area codes of local jurisdictions to make it more likely that people will pick up the phone.
- Washington, D.C., has a high population of robocalls to its population because scammers often pretend to be calling on behalf of government agencies like the IRS or ICE.
- Robocall area codes also tend to reflect highly-populated areas. Some regions, like Atlanta, and parts of the Southeast region of the U.S. and southern border states also have high percentages of robocalls mimicking those area codes.
- This could be, according to a telecom source who works very closely on the robocall issue, because robocallers tend to target vulnerable populations, like older people, immigrants and minorities.
The big picture: The FCC has prioritized the problem and has introduced new standard to tackle robocalls last month. Most of the major wireless carriers have committed to implementing standards that verify if a call is real or if it comes from a computer.
Go deeper: New efforts could reduce robocalls over the next few years
8. 🛰 1 fun thing: The internet goes to space
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
Axios Media Trends
Sara Fischer’s inside look at the forces reshaping media.