Prenup-tick

Hi, today we explore: (1) Amazon is adding ads on Prime Video, (2) The government could face another shutdown, (3) Prenups are ticking up. TOGETHER WITH Today's Topics Hello! Finally, after 146 days on the picket line, a “tentative” [deal]( has been reached between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers — just 5 days before the strike would become the longest in the guild’s history. Today we explore: - Adding up: Amazon is embracing ads, this time on Prime Video. - Déjà vu: The government could be facing another shutdown. - Prenup-tick: Younger generations are more comfortable with prenuptial agreements. Have feedback for us? Just hit reply — we'd love to hear from you! [Read this on the web instead]( Prime’s time Amazon Prime Video has joined the [growing]( slew of streamers with ad-supported offerings, announcing plans to roll out the new tier in the US in early 2024. The service will set users back an extra $2.99 a month if they want to carry on enjoying The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel or The Boys ad-free. It all ads up Amazon has said that the limited ads will allow the company to continue its content spending, which soared 28% to $16.6 billion [in 2022]( after splashing out on mega shows like [The Rings of Power](. While commercial breaks might be new to Prime Video, advertising has been a burgeoning segment in Bezos’s behemoth for some time. Indeed, in the most recent quarter, ads on Amazon brought in nearly $10.7 billion, up 22% on last year. That haul makes it one of the largest advertising businesses in the world — bigger than YouTube, Snapchat and Twitter (now X), which combined for just $9.3bn of ad revenue in their most recent quarters. Remarkably, Amazon’s ad business only made up ~8% of its whopping $134 billion net sales for the period, and some [industry experts]( believe that margins in the ad division could be “well over 50%”, which would mean it brought in as much operating profit as the company's [much-lauded]( AWS business in 2022. Prime Video ads, on the other hand, are likely to be a lot less lucrative, as they won’t be shown to people with what the marketing industry calls “high intent”. When you search for “air fryer”, and Amazon shows you a sponsored air fryer brand in the search results, there’s a much higher chance that you’ll buy it than if you’d just seen it between episodes of your favorite show. Déjà vu It’s the story that never truly goes away: a shutdown of the US government is once again looking likely, with budget negotiations in Congress [dragging on](. If the House fails to reach an agreement on funding legislation by the October 1st deadline, hundreds of thousands of federal employees will find themselves furloughed without pay, and all non-essential federal agencies will likely grind to a halt. Any shutdown could directly impact the nearly 3 million people who rely on the federal government for their payslips, with everyone from White House staffers to airport security personnel, tax collectors to National Park rangers, potentially affected. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the government is the nation's largest employer, accounting for over 22 million employees (excluding non-civilian military personnel). For perspective, the next largest employer, Walmart, employs roughly one-tenth that number. However, the vast majority of the public sector workforce is employed at the local and state levels, collectively shouldering the responsibilities of [crucial functions]( such as education, law enforcement, infrastructure projects and firefighting. In the event of a shutdown, state and local governments will be forced to tap into their own coffers to cover [grants and expenses]( — but these budgets have their own limits, and their capacity to bridge the gap is not inexhaustible. [Sponsored by RYSE]( Invest in the tech start-up that won over the Dragons Smart-doorbell pioneers RING pitched their business on the hit show Shark Tank at a valuation of just $7 million. The sharks shut them down. 5 years later, the company sold to Amazon for over $1B. That 10% stake offered would have been worth $100M. A [similar story]( could be brewing in the “Smart Shades” sector, with a company called [RYSE]( pitching on the Canadian version of Shark Tank: Dragon’s Den. It seems dragons learn from sharks — RYSE received two offers. The Dragons were impressed by [RYSE]( technology, retrofit design, and an addressable market that is well into the billions. RYSE has now launched into retail, landing in 100 Best Buy stores this year. They’re rapidly emerging as the smart shades market leader — don’t miss your chance to [invest in RYSE](. [RYSE are looking to dominate the smart shades market: Invest now]( Prenup-tick It seems that more millennials are declaring ‘I have’ before saying ‘I do’. Prenuptial agreements — legal contracts signed prior to marriage that detail how assets will be divided in the event of divorce — are on the rise, even among those without multi-million dollar holdings to protect (as in [Jeff Bezos]( case). Made famous by countless celebrity settlements, prenups appear to be breaking into the mainstream: a recent [survey]( for Axios found that half of US adults were open to signing a prenup — up 8% from the year [before](. This was especially prominent in younger generations, with 41% of Gen Z and 47% of millennials who are engaged or have been married saying that they’d entered a prenup. Bride before a fall The increase in prenups follows the trend of millennials marrying later in their life (the [median age]( of first marriage is now 27 for women and 29 for men, up from 20 and 23 in 1960), suggesting that they have more time to [accumulate assets]( — which they’d like to protect just in case — before they wed. Even if all these legalities don’t sound very romantic, they might just be helping Americans to tie the knot. CDC [data]( showed that, following a rock-bottom marriage rate in 2020 of 5.1 per 1,000 population in the US, rates of nuptials bounced back to 6.0 the following year. But it might take an even greater force than countering a pandemic-borne slump for modern marriage to take its place at this generations’ altar: the highest rate (16.4) ever recorded was observed in 1946 — the year after WW2 ended. More Data • More and more companies are calling time on the phone business: nearly 500 brands exited the smartphone market between [2017-2023](. • How much does love cost? Well, the team at Tinder thinks it could be as much as $499 a month — that's the price of its latest [VIP subscription](. • The Smart Home industry is now worth $158B, with the latest innovation, [Smart Shades]( growing annually at 55%. Launching in 100 Best Buys this year, [RYSE]( is emerging as a market leader — [invest now]( before the window closes.** • Ethiopian runner Tigist Assefa ran the Berlin Marathon yesterday in 2 hours 11 minutes 53 seconds, smashing the women's record time in new $500 [super-shoes](. • Victoria, the 120-year old red carpet company used by the British royal family, has seen its shares tumble as fears rise over “[risk of material fraud](. **This is sponsored content. Want to master data skills without the time commitment? Try [Brilliant]( the proven method for learning data science, math and programming. [Brilliant]( bite-sized interactive lessons can be done whenever you have 5 minutes — and Chartr readers [get 20% off Brilliant premium]( Hi-Viz • Cafés per capita: WalletHub have crunched the numbers on the [best coffee cities in America](. Off the charts: Which star-studded franchise — a major underperformer as the US box office experienced its worst weekend of the year [so far]( — have we redacted in the chart below? [Answer below]. [Answer here](. Thanks for stopping by! Have some [feedback](mailto:daily@chartr.co?subject=Feedback&body=Hi%2C%0A%0AI%20like%20the%20newsletters%2C%20but%20I%20had%20a%20thought%20for%20you...) or want to [sponsor]( this newsletter? Not a subscriber? Sign up for free below. [Subscribe]( Copyright © 2023 CHARTR LIMITED, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. Our mailing address is: CHARTR LIMITED Kemp House 152 - 160 City RoadLondon, EC1V 2NX United Kingdom [Add us to your address book]( Don't want charts in your inbox anymore? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](.