The media startups investors are betting on in 2020

Hello! Here are top advertising and media articles for July 21. Lucia Moses here, filling in for Lauren Johnson, who's on a well-earned vacation. Sign up for this daily newsletter here.

In today's edition: Where media startups VCs are placing their bets, Red Bull's diversity deck, and how MAC Cosmetics is dealing as store foot traffic crashes.

19 media startups that top VCs say are poised to take off in 2020, as the pandemic reshapes the industry

• The shuttering of movie theaters, production studios, live sports, theme parks, and film and music festivals has cut into media companies' earnings.
• But investors are continuing to pour money into companies they think are poised to take off and emerge stronger as consumer habits shift.
• Here are 19 startups focused on areas like livestreaming, short-form video, podcasting, and esports that investors are bullish on.

Read the full story here.

Red Bull execs outlined plans to increase diversity efforts a month before being fired. Here's their slide deck.

• About a month before being fired July 13, two top Red Bull executives announced ambitious plans to increase Black representation in the company, its marketing, and community outreach.
• Multiple employees saw their firing as an act of retaliation by Red Bull corporate leadership in Austria.
• The executives' firings, along with layoffs in cultural marketing, have thrown into question the future of the diversity program.

Read the full story here.

MAC Cosmetics' global CMO on how it's reevaluating its stores, adapting to online shopping, and advancing diversity and inclusion

• MAC Cosmetics is known for its in-store experience, but the coronavirus pandemic has changed all that as people migrate to shopping online.
• Global CMO Ukonwa Ojo described how the Estée Lauder brand is adapting by using AR to let people try on makeup virtually and other features.
• She also addressed how the company continues to advertise on Facebook despite MAC's taking a stance against hate speech.

Read the full interview here.

More stories we're reading:

Coronavirus Rewrites the Disney Playbook (Wall Street Journal)

Morgan Stanley thinks Walmart's new subscription service will boost its ability to take on Amazon Prime (Business Insider)

While growing an empire, Shopify manages to play nice (Modern Retail)

A YouTuber with 250,000 subscribers explains how much money she makes from her videos, which is more than her salary from her day job as a teacher (Business Insider)

Linkin Park's Mike Shinoda on how he used Twitch to create a new album with fan input and how musicians can make money on the livestreaming platform (Business Insider)

Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow! Remember you can subscribe here.

— Lucia