Dez Reads. The Great Yogurt Caper, Office Spaces Emptying Out, YouTube's Attention Span Challenge, Eclipse Mania, and the Beat Goes On in Music Revenue

Welcome to Dez Reads, where we dissect the fascinating intersections of business, entertainment, science, and more. This week, we're diving into a yogurt heist that reads like a crime thriller, highlighting the vulnerabilities in the logistics sector and freight fraud's costly toll. On the business front, office vacancies are hitting record highs. Entertainment brings us to the potential decline of hyper-fast video editing, a trend spurred by TikTok and YouTube's battle for viewers' fleeting attention spans. Meanwhile, science aficionados and stargazers are buzzing about the upcoming total solar eclipse, a celestial spectacle not to be missed. And in the music world, streaming continues to hit high notes in revenue.

Each story peels back the layers of our rapidly evolving cultural and technological landscape, offering insights into how we work, play, watch, and marvel at the world around us. Strap in as we explore these narratives, each casting a spotlight on the dynamics shaping our daily lives and the future ahead.

Here we go

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Business.

WSJ. A Brazen Yogurt Heist Shows How Cyber Gangs Are Hijacking U.S. Goods

Who knew yogurt could cause such a stir in the world of logistics? In a curious mix of old-school heist and cyber deception, a $50,000 yogurt shipment became the unlikely star of a sophisticated crime drama. At the heart of this dairy debacle is Rob Hoffman, CEO of Dedicated Carriers, who found himself grappling with a modern-day piracy tale. Fraudsters, donning the disguise of a legitimate carrier, whisked away a Florida-bound load and stirred the pot with a $40,000 ransom demand.

This incident, however, isn't just a one-off caper; it's part of a growing trend of freight fraud that's shaking up the industry, contributing to a whopping $500 million in losses last year. The so-called double brokering scams not only spotlight the logistics sector's vulnerabilities but also churn up questions about the effectiveness of security protocols on digital load boards and the readiness of law enforcement and regulators to tackle these emerging threats.

While the hijacked yogurt might provide some comic relief, the underlying issue hits close to home for anyone dependent on the seamless flow of goods. It's a wake-up call for the logistics industry to bolster its security measures, ensuring that today's tale of yogurt doesn't turn into tomorrow's widespread logistical nightmare.

– Mark Emerson

Bloomberg. Office Vacancy Rate Nears 20% to Set Fresh Record, Moody’s Says

The U.S. office vacancy rate rose to an all-time high of 19.8% in Q1 of 2024 (according to reporting by Bloomberg and data from Moody's). This continues the post-pandemic trend of companies not interested in paying for a large office space that will go unused most of the week as remote or partial remote work continues to be the growing trend and employee demand.

San Francisco has been hit the hardest, with the vacancy rate hitting a record 36.6% in Q1, as tech layoffs and remote work continue to play a major role there.

This trend isn't entirely surprising given the continued growth of shared workspaces available in major cities that can satisfy in-person meeting needs when they arise. These headlines come as WeWork recently announced that they expect to save more than $8 billion in future rent savings by restructuring their leases when they emerge from bankruptcy at the end of May. WeWork was able to make these adjustments given the current environment and is under threat of leaving landlords to replace them with long-term traditional tenants. 

– Mike Bova

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Entertainment.

WaPo. The ‘Beastification of YouTube’ may be coming to an end

In 2015, Time Magazine told us we all had shorter attention spans than a goldfish, citing a Microsoft study that said human attention spans are just seven seconds long. Now, TikTok and the "Beastification of YouTube" have creators using a shortcut called "retention editing," where at least every two seconds, viewers see or hear something new as they watch videos.

This editing style is designed to be addictive and has granted short-form video creators who use it as the key to virality. According to this WaPo piece, though, it may (fingers crossed) be coming to an end with video-based influencers starting to move away from it. For some reason, Americans tend to like the extremes in everything, swinging from skinny jeans to cargo pants, clean girl to mob wife, and even Donald Trump to Joe Biden. I think what's next, as Gen Z becomes parents, is going to be less screen time (they've seen how crazy their Gen Alpha iPad younger siblings are), which could potentially result in better attention spans and less spastic editing on videos because creators won't need gimmicky tricks to keep people from swiping to the next piece of content.

– Annie Moore

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Science.

ScienceNews.  Why the 2024 total solar eclipse will be such a big deal

Solar Eclipse Hold ‘Em

This ain’t Cleveland

Ain’t no Torreón

So get your solar eclipse glasses on, on, on, on

So drive your Lexus

And throw your keys up

Watch it all, watch, watch, watch (Watch it all)

Sorry (not sorry) for the Beyoncé intro – guess you know what’s on my playlist! The next total solar eclipse won’t be visible in the US for roughly a decade, so get your glasses on and watch this amazing sky event on Monday, April 8^th.

– Jennifer Hirshon

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Music.

Billboard. U.S. Recorded Music Revenue Up 8% in 2023 as Streaming Growth Remains Steady: RIA

Recorded music revenue in the United States grew 7.7% year-over-year in 2023, hitting $17.1 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. Unsurprisingly, this growth was largely driven by streaming, which accounted for $14.4 billion, with paid subscription streaming accounting for 78% of streaming revenue – again, not a surprise. However, this shows consumers are still willing to pay a premium for music access without ads. 

While numerous video streaming services try to find a pathway to profitability, it appears the demand for music that we can carry around in our pockets – commuting, going to the gym, streaming at home or elsewhere out in the world – still remains strong. 

As another interesting aside, physical sales surged again, largely driven by vinyl, which was up 10.3% year over year to $1.35 billion – a pandemic-era trend that I am glad to see still thriving. 

– Mike Bova