This is Nick. This is Jack. We all make mistakes, but one college student’s mess up went viral. Our buddy Valerie Do applied to the Miami University in Ohio. Except she showed up to the University of Miami in Florida on the first day of classes. Expectation: South Beach. Reality: snow. The takeaway? Read all of the prints—the fine print and the main, thick print on the admissions envelope.

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1) Live from New York…It’s Saturday Night Later

Saturday Night Live is back after five months of un-liveliness during the writers’ strike. Except this version of SNL is not live, not from New York, and not on Saturday night. It’s on Tuesday, from your couch, and via your TikTok FYP. Turns out SNL is taking a page from MrBeast’s book and doubling down on creator platforms like YouTube and TikTok.

ICYMI: SNL, the No. 1 live comedy show in America, began its 49th season on Saturday. Pete Davidson hosted, Ice Spice performed, and the royal couple (Taylor Swift & Travis Kelce) made a rare surprise appearance outside an NFL stadium.

But the buzz wasn’t outside 30 Rock Saturday night. It was on social feeds in the days that followed. Why? The live version of SNL only gets about 4M views/episode on TV. The real action is on YouTube, where SNL’s channel gets about 74M monthly views. The recent highlight reel for those of us with a 10pm bedtime:

• Pete Davidson’s cold open from this weekend racked up 1.5M views in 2 days on Youtube.

• And Michael Che’s Deion Sanders’ skit hit 2.9M views in 2 days.

• Pedro Pascal’s “Mario Kart” SNL skit from last spring? 14M views since it went live on YouTube.

The Takeaway →

Sometimes it’s good when the secondary market becomes the primary means of reaching your audience. SNL (plus tons of other shows like Shark Tank, Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer, and pretty much every late-night show) are going gangbusters on YouTube and TikTok with clips of their best moments peppered all over feeds. In fact, those shows are now optimizing for YouTube, with thumbnails and publishing times.

2) DoorDash’s Secret Strategy is Gamers

DoorDash 🤝 moms yelling downstairs into the basement.

Both are targeting hardcore gamers. Turns out, DoorDash’s focus on marketing to button-smashers has been a boon for the food delivery co’s bottom line.

The details: North of 12M people who said they spend at least one hour/day gaming ordered from DoorDash this summer—that’s double the amount of gamers who were #TeamDoorDash in 2021, according to the WSJ. So what changed?

DoorDash started targeting gamers to make up for a growth slowdown post-pandemic. And the numbers on gamer appetites tell the whole story:

• 🎮🥡 Gamers order 70% more often than regular DoorDash users (what with being glued to the screen and all).

• 🎮🥡 So DoorDash started catering (literally) to gamers—it just hosted a 2-day Fortnite tournament in Seattle.

• 🎮🥡 Now the majority of DoorDash orders go to video gamers craving Baconators.

• 🎮🥡 Gamers have driven DoorDash to claim ⅔ of the US food delivery market.

The Takeaway →

If you think you know your customer, you don’t know your customer. 10-year-old DoorDash surveyed its frequent customers and discovered some surprises: Three of their biggest consumer groups were sports fans, students, and gamers. That surprising nugget changed the company’s marketing focus—and pushed it to a record order frequency this year.

On the pod today

🦅 The best elementary schools in America…are run by the Department of Defense. We jumped in TBOY-style to learn how the Pentagon created the nation’s best school.

Here’s what else you need to know today:

🙏 Update in Gaza: 500 Palestinians in Gaza are feared to be dead following a hospital strike. Palestinian authorities blame Israel, but Israel says it was a misfire from a Hamas-aligned group.

✈️ President Biden is visiting Israel today. It’s his 2nd visit to a war zone this year (he went to Ukraine in February).

🧑‍💻 WFH rates just hit their lowest level since the early pandemic. In 2021, 37% of US homes had a WFH-er, and today it’s down to 26%.

🍿 Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour movie hit $123M at the box office this past weekend, making it the biggest opening ever for a concert movie. Overall, Taylor ranks No. 47 all-time for biggest openings, just behind Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and Fast and Furious 7.

 🥗 Sweetgreen is going all-in on robots making salads. We interviewed the co-founder in May about the 1st robot restaurant—the salad chain is “100% in on automation.”

🏌️The Netflix Cup is slated to tee off on Nov. 14. Drivers from the Formula 1 docuseries Drive to Survive vs. full-on golfers from Full Swing.

💊 Sam Bankman-Fried requested the judge in his ongoing trial delay proceedings until he could get his Adderall prescription (the judge said no). There’s been a nationwide shortage for nearly a year.

YOUR QUESTION →

Do y’all coordinate outfits now that the pod has video?

OUR ANSWER →

We don’t. But if we’re twinning, Jack takes off his over shirt. It’s best to look like cousins, not twins. Podcast co-hosts in the same outfit is a fashion faux pod.

YOUR QUESTION →

Why are you guys on separate coasts?

OUR ANSWER →

During the pandemic, we were forced to produce our show remotely. It worked. We’ve got the chemistry and a fantastic editor. Jack’s heart is in Vermont, where he grew up. Nick’s living the California dream and loving every minute of it. So we decided neither needs to compromise, both can live where our hearts desire. We know there’s value in in-person work too, so we meet up monthly (we actually just got back from LA together).

Do you have The Best Question Yet? Submit yours here.

And one more thing. What two things, with a same/or similar name, would be problematic (or a bit embarrassing) to confuse?

—Nick & Jack