TR:TR: Q2 2026 + TR.BIZ: 7.7.2026
The latest quarterly report has arrived, along with your early mid-week check-in on culture.
Welcome to The Trend Report: Business Edition™, a midweek look at top stories, trends, and more of what’s happening online and off by Kyle of The Trend Report™. Today, we’re talking a brand new quarterly report, how the gaming industry is in a collective free fall, Jackass as a documentary macro-entertainment project, and the one brand that benefitted from Trump’s 250 celebration.
📰 NEWS NEWS NEWS: Q2 Trend Report: Trend Report™ has arrived
For those unfamiliar with the larger Trend Report™ cinematic universe, in addition to launching the now-weekly Trend Reporting With™ Sunday interview series (which has been a means to share the mic and save me time), I launched a quarterly report that applies the same weekly trend framework to a larger sampling of time. If you’re looking for something like that — or are generally a creative professional or marketing type in need of support — then this is for you.
Called Trend Report: Trend Report™, this Q2 report is a 70+ (!!!!!) page recap of the past three months that explains recent happenings by mapping them via their import and popularity. From this mapping, we identify three themes that are explored in three essays, which we then extract learnings from. There’s an additional section on items that weren’t quite worthy of a full essay but are important to keep an eye on, along with new talent to watch. It’s cute! And Bobby Aaron Solomon continues to take the design of the Report: Report™ to new levels. A gorgeous, gorgeous baby!
A key difference from last report and this report? In addition to the 9 essays and 20 pages of predictions, takeaways, and explainers, we also have data deep dives for each themed section, where we did keyword analysis for the three main stories of to further back up and explore our thinking. This was made possible in collaboration with the newest Trend Report™ teammate: our data expert, Mickey Fitzpatrick, who is not only an Emory-trained sociologist but also my little sister. I was chatting with her after the first Report: Report™ launched, sharing how I was longing to take it to the next level with data, when we realized — DUH!! — we can collaborate to take Trend Report™ beyond simple qualitative digging and into a space with of quantitative analysis too. A familial joint slay! We love to see it.
Here’s a quick preview of what the latest Trend Report: Trend Report™ includes —
As mentioned, this is a 70+ page deep dive into the quarter that builds upon the findings of the Q1 Report: Report™.
The report is broken into three sections: the first section is on the backlash against optimization and technology, with a deep data dive on cultural thoughts on AI; the second section is on the growing pro-people movement, with a deep data dive into the impact of Pope Leo; and the third section is on very human activities breaking out in overly tech-y times, with a deep data dive around the growing influence of sports on culture (especially fashion).
The final section is a combination of two things: it features twelve mini-themes to be aware of along with twelve talents to pay attention to.
Ready to dive in? You can download the full report for $20 here. Why does it cost “so much”? First, this project took two months to build by one person plus a designer plus a data person. Second, the report also includes a free quarter of paid Trend Report™ dispatches (A $15 value!). We’ll drop the price in a month or so, but the free paid tier access will drop out too. Are you already a paid subscriber? You have access to the report for free: send me a message about it and I’ll send it your way. Can’t afford the full Report: Report™? We have a preview available and, if you really need it but cannot afford it, message me as well and we can figure something out.
Plus? You can go beyond the preview in a few days as I’m hosting a ~free live walkthrough~ of the Report: Report™ this Friday, July 10, at 12P EST / 9A PST / 6P CEST. Add it to your calendar below! Drop in, hang out, ask questions, and review the quarter with me while previewing the Report: Report™.
…and that’s it! Thanks again to my partner in Trends™ and in life, Bobby Aaron Solomon, for the design brilliance here and thanks again to my sister, Mickey, for her data help too and for being born. We’re building out a lil agency! It’s cute! Now…to get clients, work, etc. from this. WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!!!!!!
Now…back to regular TR.BIZ programming!
📲 Tech Talk: The gaming industry is committing suicide as we speak
