🛒 Shopify <---> Solana

Hey there 👋,

In this week’s newsletter, I discuss:

• Media agencies vetting low quality websites

• Content site inventory down, newsletters up

• Solana Pay comes to Shopify

• No more Kinder TLD Surprise

Cheers!

Richard Patey - @richardpatey

DIGITAL MEDIA

I’m super selective in who I let sponsor this newsletter, which is good as most crypto companies (especially NFT projects) that are interested are a scam.

This is not the case with content sites where, let’s be honest, 90% of niche sites are SEO factories designed to get people to click on programmatic ads or go to Amazon.

These ‘made for advertising’ sites (MFA) are typically:

And according to the programmatic consultancy Jounce Media, nearly a quarter of private marketplaces (PMP) allocate more than 25% of their budget to MFA inventory.

It was reported earlier this week in Digiday that one of the largest media agencies, GroupM, has taken matters into its own hands to vet potential MFAs within its programmatic business.

So how does this relate to our world of investing in digital media assets?

Firstly, I think this just adds to the AI trend of devaluing content sites.

In the Acquire The Web newsletter I’m now seeing less content site listings come onto the market to feature each week. And I just received this email from the top broker on Flippa (and previous sponsor) Joe Burrill from Just Website Brokerage talk about seeing a decrease in content sites and a move towards listing ecommerce sites:

As you’re probably aware, I’m personally betting that the move is towards newsletter businesses.

I think newsletters will 10x over the next few years and become the dominant online business digital asset seen on marketplaces.

But I agree with what Marketing Max posted, that the increased supply will make landing sponsors way harder going forward, and any that have been made purely for sponsorships will fail:

And I also agree with Adam Ryan, CEO of Workweek that the answer is by forming a collective of niche newsletters:

This is what I’m now doing at Letter Operators, by only taking on clients who are in business, investing and web3, so that I can be effective in managing their sponsorships as well as running their newsletters.

That’s right, Patey has productized once again:

CRYPTO

Big news for investors into Shopify stores (I’ve built and sold one previously) as well as Solana fans, as the platforms just announced an integration:

This is huge as it means that Solana Pay is now available to millions of Shopfiy businesses to offer crypto payments to their customers.

Solana Pay (which I featured in this issue) is now an option within the Shopify Checkout, and customers can pay using Phantom wallet:

And you can do this in a frictionless way with immediate settlement:

And this means that Shopify payments have become web3 enabled, enabling brands to offer token-gating and NFT loyalty programs:

DOMAINS

And finally, Ferrero, the maker of Kinder Eggs (my childhood) is dropping two of its TLDs.

Maybe patey.kinder can be up for grabs.

CLASSIFIEDS

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Disclaimer: Nothing in this email is financial advice and I am not a professional investment adviser. I send weekly updates on digital asset news and what I'm doing personally - consider it informational and for entertainment purposes only.