Welcome to the NewsWhip Daily spotlight round-up. Every weekday morning we send a newsletter to our subscribers that predicts the top stories and social posts of the day. Here’s today’s, as an example. As part of that, we spotlight a specific topic that is gaining media and public interest across the web and discuss its impact.
These are ephemeral by design in the newsletter, so every Friday we publish a blog that catalogs each spotlight so that you can have a full view of what stories mattered during the week. If you’d like to subscribe to the newsletter itself, though, you can do that here.
Let’s jump right into this week, beginning with February 14th, 2022.
Feb 14th: The halftime show dominates the Super Bowl
The Super Bowl confirmed its status as one of the biggest events in the world with the sheer level of coverage and engagement it received in the last 24 hours, with more than 38k articles and almost 7 million engagements.
Feb 15th: Sha’Carri Richardson questions different treatment of Kamila Valieva
Sha’Carri Richardson was set to be one of the stars of the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics, until she tested positive for marijuana in the month before the games and was banned for competition. Now, she’s questioning why Russian ice skating prodigy Kamila Valieva — who also tested positive for a banned substance — has been allowed to continue to compete, and her questions are resonating with the public.
Feb 16th: Mazars cuts ties with Donald Trump
It’s obvious to anyone watching closely that news about Donald Trump doesn’t have the same level of impact as it once did.
That is not to say, however, that the right Trump news can’t still make a big splash, as happened when accounting firm Mazars cut ties with his business this week.
Feb 17th: Belgium trials four-day workweek
This week Belgium became the latest country to announce it would be trialling a 4-day workweek, and would also be allowing workers to switch off completely from work after their work hours ended.
The top articles came from Labor 411 and Euronews, which had about 30k engagements between them. Facebook and Twitter talked about the move a little, but with no significant engagement.
Feb 18th: The brands that won the game
Super Bowl Sunday is one of the most-watched events in the world — a spectacle that brings friends, families, teammates, and brands together to take part in a US cultural phenomenon.
This year, in our report on the game, we saw a few themes emerge within the types of ads that ran. Of course, the usual big players in the food & beverage game played their hand, but cryptocurrency made a splash among commercials, earning the nickname of the “crypto bowl” from some publishers.
The most successful ad on the night was for Chevrolet’s electric Silverado, which fit nicely into two of the unofficial themes of the evening — nostalgia and electric vehicles. The ad reused the classic opening of The Sopranos to tell an updated version of the story in the electric version of the car.Â
You can read our analysis of the top ads in our report, which you can find here.
That’s all for this week, but if you’d like this content in your inbox daily, you can subscribe to the newsletter here.
