Saturday Trendspotting Special: cozy tech, travel assistants, and more

Welcome back, Superhuman

It’s time to find your next big idea. Today we’re uncovering new trends in social media, travel, and tech to show you how you can ride the next big wave.

We’re also adding a new What’s Next section to tell you all the major things that prediction markets think will happen in the coming weeks and months.

P.S. This is my second experimental Trendspotting email. If you like this email and want me to continue it, let me know in the poll at the bottom of this email.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Short-form product reviews on TikTok are taking off

The Trend: A recent Pew study shows that TikTok isn’t just for quirky dance challenges — 62% of TikTok users in the US tune in to the app for short-form product reviews. In the 18-29 age bracket, this figure jumps to 74% — a clear sign that young users in the US are using TikTok to discover new products and make purchasing decisions.

The Opportunity: Now that many previously high-performing channels like Meta Ads are getting saturated, TikTok and short-form videos offer a compelling new way for brands and solopreneurs to sell products.

According to venture capitalist Deedy, there’s a new cohort of young entrepreneurs that are growth-hacking short-form videos on TikTok and bootstrapping products to $1M - $5M in annual revenue. One 17-year-old entrepreneur Zach Yadegari has managed to grow his nutrition app to $12M in annual revenue. His story was recently covered in Forbes.

Considerations: Promoting organically through social platforms poses two risks: saturation and algorithm changes. TikTok has also been on the US government’s radar, with a potential ban looming over its head. However, if betting markets are to be believed, that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon.

Where To Start: According to our research, we’re seeing two patterns that are working for brands and marketers:

• Working with creators: This is the tried-and-true method for generating views and clicks. From what we hear, smaller creators that charge less but have engaged audiences provide a better bang for your buck.

• Scaling with AI: This is where things are getting interesting. With AI tools like Arcads, people are instantly creating hundreds or thousands of human-like short-form product videos in minutes and hacking virality on short-form platforms.

If you’d like to find top-performing ads on TikTok across different niches, check out the TikTok Top Ads.

WHAT’S NEXT

The big events prediction markets are forecasting

In case you’re not familiar with prediction markets, think of them like a stock market for guessing future events. People buy and sell shares (basically bets) based on what they think will happen. While not 100% accurate (no one can tell the future for certain), they offer a glimpse into what the market thinks will unfold in the coming weeks and months.

Here are the top predictions we found this week:

• Fears around a Monkeypox pandemic seem to be dissipating as odds are slashed to 2%, down from 22% earlier in the year.

• 46% of predictors are betting that prescriptions for weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy will go up by at least 10% this quarter.

• Despite much noise, the market thinks there’s a less than 5% chance OpenAI will announce AGI this year.

• Similar sentiments for GPT-5 being announced this year, polling at around 5% as well.

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TRAVEL

AI-powered assistants are the future of travel

The Trend: If you’ve ever booked a trip, you know how frustrating the entire process is. Last time I booked a trip, I had 40 different tabs open comparing everything from wifi quality at hotels to vegetarian food options on every flight. No wonder AI giants regularly show off travel booking as one of the tasks their latest and greatest AI models can handle.

The Opportunity: The ‘AI in Travel’ market is experiencing explosive growth, with market size projected to grow to $5.1B by 2034, according to Precedence Research. The ground is ripe for AI travel assistant apps that can analyze user preferences and past behavior to suggest destinations, manage hotel bookings, and organize payments. There’s already some signal that potential users are ready to adopt these products, with 68% of travelers saying they’re open to using AI-powered tools to customize trips, according to a study by Deloitte.

But it’s not as easy as it sounds. AI models are notoriously unreliable and prone to hallucinations. Such hallucinations might not be a big deal when they throw out a random factoid in ChatGPT. But users may not be so forgiving when an AI app puts them on a flight to Sidney, Nebraska instead of Sydney, Australia. That being said, the accuracy and reliability of AI models are improving rapidly and there is definitely an opportunity to start experimenting now.

Where To Start: Old-school travel websites that we’re all familiar with already use AI algorithms to find and compare flight and hotel prices. We saw things go up a notch with general-purpose tools like ChatGPT that could generate itineraries for an entire trip. With new agentic features hitting the market in recent months that can execute actions in web browsers on your behalf, the stage is set for the next generation of AI apps to execute itineraries, bookings, and plans on behalf of users.

TECHNOLOGY

Cozy tech is the new frontier in gaming and video

The Trend: The gaming industry is experiencing a surge in demand for "cozy tech" —personalized digital spaces that blend comfort and technology to provide immersive experiences. Take the game ‘Animal Crossing: New Horizons’, which lets you create your own “personal island paradise.“ It’s sold over 31 million copies worldwide.

The Opportunity: You can gauge the demand for cozy gaming with the industry-wide adoption of AR/VR technology, which is expected to become a $80B industry by next year, says Goldman Sachs. The surge reflects a collective craving for virtual experiences that mirror everyday life events.

Cozy tech isn’t just about gaming and VR. We’re witnessing a growing market for ergonomic video content, wellness apps, DIY setup tutorials, and e-commerce platforms for comfort-centric tech products. Smart home products, focused on creating comfortable, integrated environments, are also picking up.

Where to Start: Because we’re seeing a larger lifestyle shift, not just a technological one, there are a broad number of places you can start. Comfy digital environments are the obvious place to begin, but there’s an equally big opportunity for folks who want to sell physical products or create educational content to ride the cozy tech wave.

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Until next time,

Zain and the Superhuman AI team