Happy hump day! Today's Media Roundup is brought to you by Esther.

With Snapchat's TikTok knockoff, social media companies are starting to look the same — www.axios.com

Snapchat has just launched a TikTok-like video tab, Twitter has launched Snapchat-like Fleets, Instagram has TikTok ripoff Reels after copying pretty much every feature Snapchat created, and Linkedin (horror of horrors) now has Stories.

Once upon a time, platforms succeeded because of the differentiations in their features. We took to Instagram to post carefully edited pictures of our dinners; Twitter to share passing thoughts and jokes; and Snapchat to send pictures we'd rather weren't seen for longer than 10 seconds 😉.

Now, the race to appeal to ever wider audiences has meant that platforms are shoehorning in each other's features, in an attempt to be the leading super app. This chart from Axios sets out clearly just how crazy this competition has become.

This isn't something that will end well. Facebook and Instagram have already entered a state where they are almost incomprehensible to use, and I'm sure I'm not the only one desperately hoping Linkedin's Stories don't take off. Or maybe, aged not-yet-30, I'm simply too old for all these new-fangled features...

How the pandemic is changing podcast listening habits — www.mediapost.com

Spoiler: podcasts have proved to be really resilient to the effects of Covid-19. The podcast industry is expected to see a revenue uptick of 15% by year's end: "That growth may be lower than it would’ve been, had the pandemic not happened, but that’s still double-digit growth in a difficult year, something you won’t see with many other media."

Publishers and marketers revolt over Google plans to replace cookies with Privacy Sandbox — www.pressgazette.co.uk

Publishers and marketers have called on the UK’s competition watchdog to delay the rollout of Google’s newest advertising technology release over fears it will “cement its dominance of online business”. Just a reminder that the Privacy Sandbox is an open initiative, so if you have a better idea to replace third party cookies, speak now...

Another bit of good news from Apple: Publishers can now offer targeted discounts in the App Store — www.niemanlab.org

This is the second bit of good news for any publishers in Apple's app store following their announcement of a commission cut last week. Now, the tech giant is allowing more flexible and targeted pricing, which in turn will help publishers win more digital subscriptions through the App Store.

This week's podcast:

Inc. Editor-in-Chief Scott Omelianuk on how 2020 has changed the magazine — voices.media

I spoke to Scott Omelianuk about how starting his new job just before lockdown affected Inc.’s plans for change, how their content strategy has shifted in response to a momentous year, and about the thinking behind Inc's new texting subscription service.

Reach PLC's Terry Hornsby discusses the value of the open internet to advertisers with Lotame's Chris Hogg — voices.media

It's a platform-heavy news day, so why not top it off with our latest Conversations episode? Reach plc's Terry Hornsby, Lotame's Chris Hogg and our own Chris Sutcliffe discuss how walled gardens have impacted publisher's thinking on advertising, bringing identity back to the individual, and collaboration versus competition in the industry.