People vs Algorithms (Troy Young, Brian Morrissey, Alex Schleifer)
Explorez tous les épisodes de People vs Algorithms
| Date | Titre | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 13 Jun 2024 | War on Friction | 00:58:14 | |
Apple has entered the AI fray with a compelling view of using it to remove friction that gets in the way of people want to get things done. The issue arises for those who create that friction by serving as intermediaries.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 29 Nov 2024 | Age of Spectacle | 01:08:53 | |
This week: The internet comes to life as spectacle, Elon proclaims you are the media, why publishers need to get to the transactional level, and an assessment of a new MAGA cultural aesthetic.
| |||
| 05 Apr 2023 | Fear and Loathing, AI Edition | 00:48:44 | |
This week, we discuss how the conversation about AI has broken into camps of maximalists, doomers and fatalists. AI looks poised at a minimum to accelerate shifts in media, creating new opportunities, new challenges and likely new destruction. Likely winners: niche and personality media, those with unique data sets and, yes, strong brands as a signal of trust in a world of Balenciaga Popes. All that might not matter much if AI proves to be humanity's undoing as our worship of technological advancement meets its predictable end with machines eradicating us. For those who listened to our Formats episode, check out this post from PvA listener David Grant. Thanks, David.
| |||
| 07 Mar 2024 | Change at CNN and Google | 01:22:56 | |
This week, we discuss how to turn the ship at two very different companies facing different challenges: CNN and Google. At CNN, former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson is looking to reinvent the still very profitable broadcaster into a more nimble, digitally focused operation as its viewership and cultural importance fade. Google is facing its biggest threat yet in the form of AI and signs with Gemini AI image search that there might just be something to those complaints about a “woke culture.” Plus: nostalgia for websites, invisible paywalls and Substack’s next chapter.
Topics:
| |||
| 04 Apr 2025 | Media, narratives, markets with Nick Denton | 01:17:51 | |
Gawker Media founder Nick Denton joins the show to discuss how narratives and memes run the world, and why it’s better to trade on them than run the old media playbook of the attention economy.
| |||
| 12 Jul 2023 | The Talent Repricing | 00:52:48 | |
The zero-interest rate is in the rearview mirror. And now comes the repricing, not just of assets but also talent. ESPN's been cutting high-priced on-air talent as it prepares for an end to the golden era of cable bundle subsidies. We've seen this happen already to the magazine industry, where the all-powerful magazine editor has faded and these roles become just another job. The clear path for most talent is to take an independent path and develop their own media company as opposed to being at the mercy of corporate whims.
| |||
| 11 Apr 2024 | The Power Play | 01:06:22 | |
In this episode Brian, Troy, and Alex dive into AI mishaps in Teslas, muse over BuzzFeed's AI pivot, and ponder the future of creativity in tech. They chat about navigating power in the digital age, laugh at media's latest shenanigans, and champion the underdog entrepreneurs shaking things up.
Topics:
| |||
| 14 Mar 2023 | Bank failure or culture war? | 01:00:48 | |
Brian, Troy, and Alex jump on a call to talk about that SVB thing and the discourse around it. Some links:
| |||
| 21 Mar 2024 | Algorithmic Sameness with Kyle Chayka | 01:11:37 | |
In this episode of 'People vs. Algorithms,' hosts Brian Morrissey, Troy Young, and Alex Schleifer engage in a wide-ranging discussion on how algorithms shape our cultural landscape, the future of AI in content creation, and the consequences of a digitally dominated world. They share insights from the Game Developer Conference about the optimism among independent studios and discuss the ramifications of algorithmic sameness across media. The episode features a detailed conversation with Kyle Chayka, a writer at the New Yorker and author of 'Filterworld,' centering on how algorithms are flattening culture and what it means for creators and consumers alike.
Topics:
| |||
| 14 Sep 2023 | Dismembering Disney | 00:58:49 | |
This week, we discuss the rebundling, with a focus on the future of pay TV and why tech companies will inevitably be the rebundlers with media companies the rebundled.
| |||
| 05 Nov 2022 | Transitional Times | 00:50:14 | |
We live in a period of transitions. These periods are only clear in retrospect, of course. But much of the world is moving from an old era to a new era that is… unsettled. We don’t fully know, for instance, what the post-pandemic era, the new normal or whatever, will actually look like because we’re not there yet. So we exist in this uncomfortable in-between state. This week, Troy and Brian discuss what in-between state, as the consumer tech industry and advertising industries start to decouple. The publishing industry is already in the midst of a transition from the pageview and scale era to, well, something new, which in my view will end up being smaller and more meaningful. As always, we welcome your feedback. My email is bmorrissey@gmail.com. Thank you to Jay Sparks of PodHelp.us for editing this podcast. The theme music was created by Alex Schleifer of Universal Entities. | |||
| 21 Dec 2023 | The New SERP, the New Syndication | 00:58:26 | |
Troy and Brian go over some of the lessons of 2023 and look ahead to 2024, starting with the end of the long era of dominance of the search engine results page and the dawn of a new SERP and promise of a new syndication paradigm that's reminiscent of the portal era.
| |||
| 20 Sep 2022 | Is media better now? | 00:32:55 | |
Today, Brian and Troy discuss whether media is better or not today? It's definitely different and there's some interesting stuff done in personal and niche media. Also, more Mr Beast burger talk, good podcasts, and Prince. Show Links: More by the hosts: | |||
| 18 Jul 2024 | The Network is the Media | 01:10:04 | |
The assassination attempt on Donald Trump was a stress test for the Information Space, and a reminder of just how much the media has changed. You had mainstream news outlets jockeying with individuals holding forth with a collection of expertise, conspiracies, jokes, memes and partisan potshots. Some of it was informative, some of it was hilarious, some of it was infuriating, and much of it was… entertaining? We unpack yet another crazy plot twist and look forward to what it means as the media business girds for what looks very likely to be a return to power of Donald Trump and an ascendent political movement that’s to a large degree successfully vanquished the packaged news media.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 01 Aug 2024 | The Future of Search | 00:48:00 | |
OpenAI is readying a new search engine, Meta is pushing further into search with Llama, Perplexity is cutting deals with publishers. This week, we look to what the future of search looks like. Plus: why Nike ended up in Wall Street’s doghouse, why Tucker Carlson is a podcast star, and why Pulp Fiction still works.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 09 Aug 2023 | Summer Media | 00:43:01 | |
This week Troy, Brian and Alex talk about their summer media habits when on vacation or just trying to unplug.
| |||
| 21 Oct 2022 | Is AI coming for your job? | 00:44:35 | |
This week, we are talking about the future of work, but not the way it is usually discussed these days. Instead of focusing on the how of work, we examine the what of work in an age of AI. Each day brings new advances in generative AI tools, showing a clear path to how technology will alter the nature of creation in profound ways. We also discuss how the coming AI boom will differ from the dot-com and Web 2.0 booms, which happened when people largely still saw technology advancements as hopeful progress, not threats. Finally, we give early impressions of Semafor, the new global news brand launched this week. | |||
| 18 Oct 2024 | The End of Text | 01:10:03 | |
Mass media’s extinction event has come first for text content. Text is increasingly being "pushed down the stack" and commoditized due to AI's ability to generate, manipulate, and reformat text content. This shift is forcing media companies that primarily deal in text to adapt or risk becoming obsolete. While text isn't disappearing entirely, its role is changing. It's becoming more of an input for other forms of media rather than the primary output. Meanwhile, other parts of media are gaining in influence. This will turn out to be the podcast election, as Kamala Harris prepares to make her closing case to… Joe Rogan while continuing to snub mass media like Time and the New York Times. We also discuss the power of Fortnite, which points to a future of media where content is a means to an ends. In the case of Fortnite, that ends is a combination of a place to hang out, a hub for commercial events like virtual concerts, a competitive environment premised on participation rather than inert consumption, and a communication medium. Plus: Bill Gates is apparently a good product.
| |||
| 17 Jan 2025 | The Gospel of Productivity | 01:07:33 | |
Economic growth requires labor productivity. We all aspire, in our own ways, to be productive, if only because our productivity is directly tied to our rewards. Yet American labor productivity has stagnated since the first decade of the internet coming to business. AI is now held out as the latest savior to productivity. Modern productivity culture is an outgrowth of optimization obsession. We can measure more than ever, so we gravitate to squeezing out incremental gains and sometimes lose sight of the direction we want to go. We chase productivity growth hacks like the Pomodoro Method and lean on apps like Notion. The quest for productivity has become a secular religion. This week, we discuss why we are constantly searching for productivity, our own approaches to productivity, why AI isn’t the silver bullet, and why what we really need is better prioritization.
| |||
| 03 Aug 2023 | More With Less | 00:36:10 | |
Maybe publishing stinks as a scaled business, and it won't ever be otherwise. The most promising models I see tend to focus on elite audiences of business or political decision makers, lifestyle segments that lend themselves to commercial transactions or front operations for other more lucrative businesses in completely different categories. That will require a refactoring of publishing organizations to cover more ground with fewer resources.
| |||
| 25 May 2023 | Advertising Is Bugs | 00:57:45 | |
This week, Troy, Alex and I discuss a variety of topics, ranging from Alex’s beef with advertising, whether gaming will ever be fully mainstream, the potential collapse of the cable bundle without sports programming, and how AI could enable super-empowered individuals. Also, Troy reports back with curios from a trip to Tim Horton's.
| |||
| 07 Mar 2025 | Getting Chegged | 01:11:29 | |
Online education company Chegg is suing Google for AI Overviews and might become the first major company felled by AI. We go over the hitlist of others at risk of getting Chegged, including SEO-dependent publishers, SaaS companies and even the email newsletter industrial complex. Plus: Why Lenny Rachitsky has succeeded, the case against all-inclusive resorts and a debate on whether reading is dying or just in a format transition.
| |||
| 13 Jan 2023 | Brian goes to CES and AI freakouts | 00:37:31 | |
Brian's fresh off CES, where he saw no robots at all but definitely got a coffee behind a guy just wrapping up a big night. We’re going to talk about CES, both from a tech angle, as well as from a media and advertising angle, since it has become a go-to event for media executives to go and spend nearly all of their time in suites doing meetings. We’re also going to dip into AI, which is set to be everywhere this year and is already eliciting excess excitement. Show notes:
| |||
| 06 Dec 2024 | Poly News | 01:09:09 | |
Prediction market + news; media’s bifurcating star system; media’s management-labor divide; AI + browsers; car talk; LinkedIn cringe
| |||
| 14 Oct 2022 | Zuck's metaverse, AI art, the future of work | 00:37:08 | |
Big topic this week. Troy and Brian discuss AR/VR, AI art, and the many other ways humans are being turned into cyborgs. Troy's got a contrarian take on Meta's metaverse ambitions. Brian's got some stories about the good old days of Second Life. It's a good one. Links: | |||
| 25 Apr 2024 | Omnicom's Jonathan Nelson on Agencies & AI | 01:14:25 | |
Omnicom digital chief Jonathan Nelson joins the show to discuss why ad agencies, forever under threat, will adapt to AI. We go into Omnicom's purchase of Flywheel Digital, a software company for digital commerce -- a further sign that the next phase of what we used to call the internet will be defined by commerce rather than advertising.
Topics:
| |||
| 09 May 2024 | Transforming Time with Jess Sibley | 01:05:12 | |
Jess Sibley, CEO of Time, joins Brian and Troy to discuss adapting Time to today’s digital challenges. Jess shares her strategies for navigating algorithm changes and AI, shifting Time’s focus from consumer to business-oriented models, and the implications for digital content and monetization.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 15 Dec 2023 | Minisode: Troy and Alex discuss AI | 00:14:16 | |
Troy and Alex kept the conversation going after the recording of last episode. After sharing a "transcendental" experience with Chat GPT, Alex explained why he doesn't want a Cybertruck and Troy is compelled to play GTA 6.
| |||
| 19 Nov 2022 | Extremely hard core reality checks | 00:55:17 | |
In this week's episode, Troy, Brian and Alex examine why we seem to be more susceptible to cults than ever before. We all have our own versions of reality, after all. For some, Elon Musk's slash-and-burn approach to "fixing" Twitter is insanity, but to others his extremely hard core approach part of a broader correction that is bring the expectations of workers back to reality. Plus: trolling as communication and why offices and podcasts are good products. | |||
| 20 Dec 2024 | The End of Artifice | 01:11:24 | |
Podcasting challenges late nite, lying in media, shopping as content, super consumers and Alex rediscovers America at Disney.
| |||
| 04 Jul 2024 | "Embrace The Chaos" | 00:51:10 | |
In this July 4th episode, Alex, Brian and Troy chat about whether life will ever get back to 'normal,' Threads vs. X, gamer saints and AI dogs.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 12 Oct 2023 | Chris Kimball Says Screw the Algorithm | 01:00:21 | |
“Deliver something nobody else is delivering,” advises Milk Street’s Christopher Kimball. The media veteran, who created Cooks Country and America’s Test Kitchen, joins the show to discuss why media needs to go back to basics to build lasting brands or be left behind as digital flotsam in an algorithmic feed.
| |||
| 14 Dec 2023 | 2024 Storylines | 00:50:02 | |
In news, we discuss Google's antitrust loss, the miracle of Cheddar selling for $200 million, 5-Hour Energy Guy cleaning house at SI and zombie cable TV. Next, it's onto 2024 storylines, including AI's coming specialization, and platforms and publishers breaking up.
| |||
| 10 Sep 2022 | Mr Beast Burgers, Shein, MAGA Brands | 00:42:41 | |
Today Brian and Troy discuss media, products, and how they come together. Lots of talk of fast food, fast fashion, and fast takes on todays media landscape. Links: | |||
| 08 Feb 2024 | Blending Realities with Rafat Ali | 01:11:55 | |
In this episode Alex, Brian, and Troy, with guest Rafat Ali, discuss the future of technology, focusing on the Apple Vision Pro's impact on work, personal life, and media consumption. They explore its potential to revolutionize how we interact with digital content and the broader implications for traditional media and AI in content creation.
Skip to topics:
| |||
| 19 Jul 2023 | Distribution Disruption | 01:10:32 | |
Every business deals with disruption and challenges, but the media business is somewhat unique in having such profound upheavals to its distribution paradigms. Music faced it first. Publishing went next. And now we’re seeing entertainment, whether TV or film, face the same turbulence as distribution shifts to streaming and the economics change profoundly. Plus: what’s cool, why corporate values aren’t much of a moat, how Airbnb puts design at the heart of everything it does and a review of Homewood Suites.
| |||
| 27 Sep 2024 | Productive Tension | 01:11:16 | |
The heart of organizations is tension, which when productive can lead to great outcomes. If it goes to extremes, disaster. This week, we discuss tension at OpenAI between its non-profit mission and massive ambitions, the tensions of hacking attention to sell products, the Trump tension between the truth and making a valid a point, and the tension between tech changing consumer expectations and media business models. Episode links:
Elsewhere:
| |||
| 23 Nov 2023 | OpenAI and the Culture of Silicon Valley | 00:44:08 | |
The OpenAI drama exposed fault lines in the very unique culture of Silicon Valley, highlighting the imperfect methods used to serve as a check on the growing power of the tech industry.
| |||
| 21 Mar 2025 | The Abundance Agenda | 01:12:51 | |
The media industry, like politics, has been stuck in a scarcity mindset—managing decline instead of building for the future. In this episode, we dig into The Abundance Agenda, the new book by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson, and explore what a pro-growth strategy could look like for media. Plus, TheSkimm exits to Ziff Davis, the rise of AI-driven advertising, and Anonymous Banker joins to explain why second-tier comedians might be the next big media arbitrage opportunity.
| |||
| 13 Dec 2024 | The New American Power Center | 01:08:27 | |
Tech has swallowed media, and is increasingly swallowing other industries and accruing power along the way. Plus: why adding a chatbot won’t save the article page, the real message of the big ad holding company merger, and an introduction to the new PvA companion product.
| |||
| 15 Nov 2024 | The Art of Modern Persuasion & The Manosphere | 01:00:18 | |
The election in many ways confirmed what many had suspected: the information space has superceded and subsumed the traditional media world. Traditional media is now just one node, and perhaps more alarmingly its influence – and ability to persuade – has drastically declined. We talk in this episode about the implications of this shift, particularly with the spotlight now on what’s being called the manosphere, a chaotic loose confederation of podcasters and YouTubers who have seemingly broken through to be a key node of persuasion for young men. Plus: Is CNN fixable?
| |||
| 25 Oct 2024 | The New Media Consensus | 00:53:37 | |
There’s a new consensus about the media business that is emerging. The past is not coming back, that much is for certain. The challenges are well known, and the bright spots — and they exist — tend to be smaller and harder to scale.
| |||
| 05 Oct 2023 | Product People | 00:50:43 | |
You don't have to be an engineer or be a developer to be a product person, although it helps. This week, we discuss how Elon Musk makes products, why non-technical people gravitate to product management and where media products go wrong.
| |||
| 07 Sep 2023 | Heroes, Villains and Assholes | 00:55:02 | |
One person's "fire-breathing dragon" is another person's asshole. The zero-interest rate era is in the rearview mirror, and businesses will be under more pressure to do more with less. Between Elon Musk and Donald Trump, there is a celebration of behavior that might easily be described as assholish. This week, we contemplate where the line exists, particularly in an ambitious work environment. Plus: How our love of narratives gives rise to simplistic heroes-and-villains fables, and a defense of Burning Man as a haven of "creative optimists."
| |||
| 07 Jul 2023 | Twilight of the Open Web | 00:58:33 | |
The open web has never faced more threats, and the prevailing winds of the digital economy are working against the principles and infrastructure that has underpinned the open web for the past generation.
| |||
| 08 Feb 2023 | Uniqueness, differentiation and building the next media brand | 00:46:49 | |
Troy, Alex and Brian discuss differentiation or uniqueness and what it means as the algorithmic age moves into new territory. Show notes:
| |||
| 26 Jan 2023 | How we make decisions | 00:50:21 | |
This week we’re talking about decisions: how to make them, when they go wrong, and the tough decisions that are often forced on you. The longer your career goes, and the higher up you progress in organizations, the decisions you make become the core of your contribution. Make enough decisions, you’ll make plenty of bad ones. We see this clearly in the sharp U-Turn Silicon Valley is making from a series of hiring decisions they all made during the pandemic. It’s become something of a ritual for a SV CEO to announce thousands of job losses and take responsibility for the decisions that led to these cuts. We discuss everything from how too often people hide behind data to abdicate their responsibility for decision to a framework Troy uses for decisions. Hope you find it valua Show notes:
| |||
| 16 Nov 2023 | The New Interface | 00:55:14 | |
AI agents will accelerate the interface shift and change the economics of software, media and beyond.
| |||
| 01 Mar 2023 | Alex wants to burn the ad industry down | 00:45:20 | |
Today Brian, Troy and Alex ask themselves "what is premium"? They also discuss bundling in its many different forms. How it changed internet media and how AI will change the entire concept of a bundle. Plus: Alex hates advertising, Brian remains in Comfort+ and Troy loves his dog.
| |||
| 24 Aug 2023 | Mass Media Crackup | 00:45:38 | |
The foundations of mass media continue to erode, from the declining relevance of presidential debates to the uncertain future of TV in a streaming era to publishing brands becoming distribution channels for energy supplements.
| |||
| 03 May 2023 | The New Interface | 00:47:11 | |
The commanding heights of the digital economy are control of the interface. It’s the interface through which the vast expanses of the tangle of data that makes up the digital economy are accessible. Think of the most powerful digital businesses and they are, in essence, interface businesses. Google is the interface for accessing information. Facebook is a social interface. TikTok is an entertainment interface. This week, Troy, Alex and Brian discuss how AI is already changing the interface for accessing information and implication that has for the media business and the digital economy as a whole.
| |||
| 06 Jan 2023 | Death of the Link | 00:40:54 | |
This week, we consider whether we’re on the cusp of the end of the link era. The web was built on links. It connected the disparate nodes of the web and, crucially, brought some measure of serendipity to the internet. But the link is fading from its central role. Just this week, The Information broke news that Microsoft plans to bring ChatGPT to Bing, offering the tantalyzing possibility of Google feeling real competition for the first time in a long time – and bringing up the question of whether how people find information will change forever. The rise of walled gardens and apps made links less important. The advent of AI could very well be the final nail in the coffin for the link, and along with it another blow to the open web, which has already been under threat. Show notes:
| |||
| 19 Oct 2023 | More With Less | 00:50:51 | |
On a crossover episode of The Rebooting Show and People vs Algorithms, Alex and Brian discuss zero-interest rate phenomena and how they distorted by the tech industry and media industry -- all while giving us subsidized and unlicensed taxis and hotels along with some really silly stuff like all those scooters and the 15-minute delivery services that never made economic sense. With the new mantra of higher-for-longer, not to mention the promise and specter of AI, we discuss how that affects the type of business you build.
| |||
| 17 Dec 2022 | People vs Platforms | 00:59:25 | |
We’re closing out the year with a series of conversations that look at the trends that will define these patterns in media, technology and culture in the year ahead. Last week we started with artificial intelligence. This week, we’re looking ahead to platforms, in particular social platforms, as they are in a time of transition. We look ahead and discuss what trend to expect as we sort through the role platforms will play as they’ve grown too big and too powerful perhaps for their and our own good. Show notes:
| |||
| 30 May 2024 | Everyone is Hallucinating | 00:53:33 | |
In this episode Brian, Troy, and Alex talk about AI hallucinations, and how they mirror human misperceptions. Troy believes the open web and traditional media will still hold value, while Alex thinks AI and platforms like Google and social media will take over. They also touch on the future of ad-supported AI services and SEO, Vivek Ramaswamy’s anti-BuzzFeed campaign and a genius idea about electing presidents.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 11 Jul 2024 | Rules of The Information Space | 01:00:02 | |
The tidal wave of crap is a reality in the Information Space. This week, we discuss the rules of winning in the Information Space, including why it helps to get into fights, present as authoritative and authentic, and above all else to be willing to be shameless.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 16 May 2024 | Maybe the AI Hype is Real | 00:57:25 | |
Brian, Alex, and Troy get into the new AI updates from OpenAI and Google. They unpack how these big changes might shake up industries like media and advertising, and what that means for our daily tech interactions.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 24 Sep 2022 | RIP Long Tail | 00:30:52 | |
When media becomes more niche, institutional brands suffer. What used to be thought of as the long tail has now become a thick tail. Individual creators are poised to replace these niche brands as media and culture fragment. Plus: Is Google's stranglehold on search finally waning? Links: | |||
| 26 Jul 2023 | Distribution Chokepoints | 01:05:38 | |
This week: Media cannot escape being aggregated; Elon Musk's superapp fever dream; Hollywood's dead-cat bounce with Barbieheimer; and publishers look to events to exit a tough digital ad market.
| |||
| 08 Nov 2024 | Winners and Losers | 01:08:44 | |
We run through the implications of the return of Donald Trump to the presidency after an election that saw the mainstream news media making way for new power brokers in unusual guises. The podcast election proved to be real – and a harbinger of changes to come as the Information Space subsumes the Fourth Estate.
| |||
| 01 Feb 2024 | Game Over | 00:59:46 | |
With an era of digital media ending in chaos, we look ahead to the challenges media companies face in fixing a product that in most instances is far behind the times.
| |||
| 03 Jan 2025 | The Information Space in 2025 | 00:55:47 | |
This week, we discuss the outlook in 2025 for legacy media (not great), alternative media (much better), chat as a new media mode, X emerging as a critical power center, and culture wars morphing into class wars.
| |||
| 16 Feb 2023 | The new media interface | 00:42:30 | |
Troy, Alex and Brian discuss what's next for interfaces and how we will be getting our media in the future. Show notes:
| |||
| 29 Feb 2024 | Survivors | 01:05:52 | |
This week, we're joined by Puck fashion correspondent Lauren Sherman, who gives her view on how to build a career in journalism during what's billed as an "extinction event." Hint: persistence plays a big part. Plus: Troy gets nostalgic about Vice.
Topics:
| |||
| 21 Feb 2025 | Messy Media | 01:24:51 | |
Media has never been neat, but it’s getting messier. This week, Brian and Troy explore how AI is reshaping the creative process, how different personality-driven brands thrive on particular platforms, and the developing messy aesthetic of modern media that’s spreading to earnings calls and product launches. Troy shares how OpenAI’s Projects feature changed his workflow, turning AI into a true research assistant. Anonymous Banker joins to break down AI’s irrational valuations and why X’s debt selling on par means Elon’s won. We also debate whether Substack will inevitably embrace advertising and how creators are navigating capital investments. Plus: a yacht rock documentary and Masa biography as dual good products.
| |||
| 03 Feb 2023 | The state of optimism, was Steve Jobs a psychopath and the coming bumper sticker renaissance. | 00:57:07 | |
In this episode we discuss the virtues and misuses of optimism. We dig into how optimism gets applied to the way we build strategies, teams, and products in tech and media. We cover a lot in this near hour-long episode but we try to stay upbeat. Show notes:
| |||
| 14 Mar 2024 | Platform Shifts | 01:17:45 | |
As Alex says, the ground is shifting more and faster than it has in some time in the tech world, which usually means gaping craters are opened to swallow up media companies. We discuss the Reddit IPO, X apparently pivoting to video – we recorded this prior to Don Lemmon announcing he wouldn’t be launching his show on X after an apparently disastrous interview with Elon Musk pissed off Musk, go figure – and the effort to ban TikTok. We also have a guest this week. Tony Stubblebine joined us to discuss where Medium fits in the information space. We talked to Tony about how Medium aims to be the place for expert content, why journalism is apparently expensive to produce because journalists have to learn about the stuff they cover, and the frequent misalignment of incentives in the media business, particularly ones reliant on advertising. Submit a question or comment for the show here: https://memo.fm/pva/
Topics:
| |||
| 14 Jun 2023 | NYT vs CNN | 00:43:36 | |
The old levers of the media business aren't working. This is a time of existential change in many parts of the media business. This week, Troy and Brian consider the divergent paths taken by The New York Times and CNN. The times has successfully reoriented its business to the DTC lane, after a near-death experience during the Financial Crisis. CNN, on the other hand, never faced such dire straits. Thanks to the insulation of the cable model, with carriage fees paid no matter the rating, CNN could put off such profound shifts. But as the old saying goes, if you're uncomfortable with change, you're going to like irrelevance even less. CNN is still a cash generator, producing a reported $750 million in profits last year, but the cable model that underpins its business is crumbling. What path should it take?
| |||
| 17 May 2023 | The Deterioration of Webpages | 01:00:07 | |
The pageview has long been the atomic unit of the internet. The business of digital publishing has revolved around it. But in a world of chatbots bringing information directly to people, the power of the page is set to decline as fewer people need to bounce from website to website, instead getting their information “directly to the vein.” This week, Troy, Alex and Brian discuss how the biggest change to search in a generation will drastically change the digital media business.
| |||
| 18 Jan 2024 | CES, Ackman’s War, News App Fails | 01:06:40 | |
This week we talk CES, the ongoing silliness of the Bill Ackman-Business Insider feud, and why news aggregation apps are the obvious solution in search of a (monetizable) problem.
| |||
| 21 Sep 2023 | Misaligned Media | 01:19:29 | |
Most of the challenges facing media come down to misaligned incentives. Publishers face a bad set of options to serve the competing interests of advertisers and the audience while keeping the lights on. The horror show of UK news sites is a sign of things to come. Publishers and platforms have long had misaligned incentives, as games studios are belatedly finding out, while companies are struggling to balance the incentives of workers, management and shareholders.
| |||
| 21 Jan 2023 | Death of the Racket: 2023 Winners and Losers | 00:51:59 | |
We're still in January so we thought we might as well slip in a late predictions episode. Everyone came prepared. Show notes:
| |||
| 11 Nov 2022 | Bad week for billionaire geniuses | 00:48:23 | |
Between the collapse of FTX and the endless chaos and drama at Elon Musk's Twitter, this wasn’t a great time to be an all-knowing oracle. FTX is now bankrupt Meanwhile, over at Twitter, Elon Musk and his merry band of podcasters/hangers on continue to throw spaghetti against the wall, seeming without rhyme or reason. We break down why very smart and successful people like Sam Bankman-Fried and Elon Musk are stumbling so badly. | |||
| 07 Feb 2025 | Does AI need an iPhone moment? | 01:08:29 | |
This week, on the heels of OpenAI releasing Deep Research, we assess whether AI has caught on with regular people beyond kicking the tires on ChatGPT. Maybe the AI Super Bowl ads will make it more appealing. Plus: the memeification and financialization of everything, volatility as the norm, X shows signs of a financial turnaround and alarm clocks with apps and a subscription program.
| |||
| 25 Jul 2024 | The Dark Side of Performance | 01:11:59 | |
This week, we’re joined by Joe Marchese, operating and build partner at Human Ventures and veteran media exec. We discuss why the obsession with performance marketing has created incentives for many intermediaries to focus on giving the appearance of being responsible for a sale rather than actually contributing to the sale, and how that’s led to short-term approaches that skips the basics of building lasting brands. Plus: What the meting of Kamala Harris says about the direction of news and political campaigns, why Netflix points to a shrinking TV ad market and the perils of operating content and commerce businesses as part of one company.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 23 Dec 2022 | The 2023 Expectation Reset | 00:54:16 | |
The end of calendar years tend to be times for resets. We like to use them as an excuse for a fresh start. This is why we have Sober January and even Veganuary, which I find far more popular in the UK for some reason, and gyms are crowded and I see people very red in the face out for their firs run in many, many months. 2023 is a year of reset expectations and that’s because, as we’ve discussed on this show, we are closing out an era and entering a new one whose contours are only coming into focus. The teetering economy will cause further stresses as all aspects of the economy and society begin to fully emerge not just from the pandemic era but a long run of economic growth. Let’s face it: Expectations will be adjusted. We have seen this start in the technology industry, both with valuation expectations and worker expectations, and it will spread undoubtedly throughout the downstream economy, notably in media. We discuss the ramifications of these reset expectations for advertising, publishing and technology this week. Show notes:
| |||
| 01 Jun 2023 | The End of Ads and The Last Impression | 00:54:14 | |
Ads are like cockroaches. You might not like them, but they always find a way to survive and multiply. But without a doubt, the ad industry is facing momentous challenges, not just from short term economic pressures, but the possibility of structural collapse from the shifts driven by AI.
| |||
| 01 Oct 2022 | WTF is a media company now? | 00:39:53 | |
We are in a strange time for the media business. There is a consensus that having a loyal audience has never been more valuable. You regularly hear people saying that every company, at some level, will be a media business in the future. And yet, being a media business is more challenging than ever, at least for quote unquote traditional media businesses. This week, Troy and Brian discuss just what makes a media business, and how it is completely different than what came before. It’s more about understanding digital culture, it’s more personality driven, and it is very often not about the quest for eyeballs to show ads, or even to sell subscriptions. Links: | |||
| 02 Dec 2022 | The disappointments of the open web | 00:51:30 | |
This week, Troy, Alex and Brian discuss the fate of the open web through the lens of building sustainable publishing business models. One key shortcoming is around micropayments. Logic says this should exist. Even the most successful publishers convert only a small fraction of their total audience to paying subscribers. And that’s because of misaligned incentives. What makes sense for the audience does not make sense for publishers. The other lens is this week’s big deal between Yahoo and Taboola, the leading content recommendation ad network. | |||
| 04 Oct 2024 | Above-the-Line Media | 00:51:29 | |
This week, we discuss a new framework for the media industry that separates content into two distinct categories: "above the line" and "below the line" media. The line in question represents the threshold of human uniqueness in content creation. Above it lies the territory where human creativity, insight, and expertise still reign supreme. Below it, we find the realm increasingly dominated by AI-driven processes and automation. Plus: Taylor Lorenz and the question of whether packaged media can retain talent; AI dwindling the value of curation; synthetic social networks; and praise for bullshitters.
| |||
| 11 Oct 2024 | Bad Bets | 01:06:04 | |
This week, we take a look at making bets that go wrong, and how it’s often difficult to tell if a bet is a bad one in the short term. Was Meta’s bet on VR a bad bet? Maybe in the short term, but perhaps not in the long term. Media companies have made their fair share of bad bets over the years, although there weren’t many options available. Will the parade of AI deals join the pile of bad bets? Plus… Good Product with a VERY special guest Steve Katelman.
| |||
| 15 Aug 2024 | The Olympics and the Future of TV | 00:43:23 | |
This week, we discuss conversations vs interviews, why social networking has been replaced by algorithmic content, YouTube’s pivotal role in the emerging media space, and why the Olympics were a great media product.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 16 Aug 2023 | Media Is From Mars, Tech Is From Venus | 00:53:06 | |
In this Brian-free episode Troy and Alex discuss the tension between media and tech, what changed and why. Plus: weird billionaire takes, the next internet, and a new browser.
| |||
| 10 Jan 2025 | Zuckerberg’s Capitulation, Rabbit Holes and the War on Attention | 01:03:42 | |
This week, we discuss Mark Zuckerberg’s craven capitulation on content moderation, even if it was an inevitable decision; the upside of algorithmic rabbit holes vs the downside of the commodification of attention; and how creator culture is reshaping trust in media institutions. Plus: why the Ninja Creami and IVs are good products.
| |||
| 02 May 2024 | Can the “Fediverse” Save Us? | 01:09:10 | |
Brian, Troy, and Alex discuss the commercialization of the internet and the impact of AI on media. They explore big media-tech partnerships, the evolving role of AI in content distribution, and the potential benefits and challenges AI brings to our digital lives.
Topics:
| |||
| 22 Aug 2024 | The Recalibration to Normal | 01:03:16 | |
This is shaping up to be a TikTok election where relatability is at a premium. The successful rollout of the Harris-Walz ticket is moving authenticity from loudly telling the truths others dare not to something softer and more familiar. Plus: the recalibration of remote work, AI backlash and the difficulty of deciding level of spending on content as the weight of many publisher models shifts to indirect monetization paths.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 08 Mar 2023 | Substack is probably important | 00:47:20 | |
This week Brian, Troy and Alex discuss Substack, why it's turning into a platform, and why e-mail may or may not be its future. Some links:
| |||
| 09 Dec 2022 | People vs AI | 00:50:31 | |
Thanks to AI, 2023 will likely be the year when we fall in love again with the magic that can be technology and also confront the thorny questions around misinformation, the nature of ownership and copyright and, oh by the way, will those of us who have mostly typed words for a living need to be retrained to do something else? There is also the grand existential question: Is it going to replace us? Links: | |||
| 22 Nov 2024 | Neutering Google | 00:51:19 | |
This week on People vs. Algorithms, we unpacked London’s charm, the shifting dynamics of media and search, and why Google’s dominance feels both indispensable and fragile. Troy and I contrasted American and British publishing cultures—bigger isn’t always better, as UK publishers adapt to constraints with scrappy innovation. Search’s transformation, fueled by AI and shifts in Google’s strategy, dominated our discussion. While it offers consumers better tools, publishers are left scrambling, questioning their survival amid frictionless AI-driven content.
| |||
| 30 Jun 2023 | Dark Patterns | 00:58:22 | |
The FTC has declared war on dark patterns, the use of design to manipulate people into taking actions against their interests. It settled with Publishers Clearinghouse and sued Amazon for what the FTC says are efforts to track and trap people into recurring Amazon Prime subscriptions. The line between optimizations and dark patterns is fuzzy, not least in the media industry.
| |||
| 23 May 2024 | AI Time Machine | 01:08:41 | |
What do tech and media look like in five years? Plus: Sam Altman as slippery character and AI comes to search and devices.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 28 Feb 2025 | Arbitrage Media | 00:44:14 | |
Troy’s at “advanced” tennis camp, so Brian and Alex discuss the shifting dynamics of the newsletter and video game markets. Newsletters are entering into bubble territory, while parts of the video game market are losing ground after a long run of robust growth. Plus: an urban redevelopment good product.
| |||
| 10 Oct 2022 | Ephemeral media | 00:24:40 | |
This week we tackle everything from the fate of Twitter under Elon Musk; how you build brands in a media environment dictated by flow; and why in many ways we’re all cheaters to a degree as we augment our abilities with the help of technology. Links: | |||
| 18 Apr 2025 | Hyperpunditry | 01:09:56 | |
This week we dig into the spread of hyperpunditry and why the Information Space rewards those who confidently switch lanes with abandon. Plus: AI’s bottoms-up adoption curve, Anonymous Banker on golf media’s strength and the crazy life of sea turtles.
| |||
| 22 Feb 2023 | Publishing is a perpetual hackathon | 00:43:25 | |
Software has eaten the world, and for publishers that means a continuous battle to fend off second-order impacts of decisions made by tech companies battling each other or governments attempting to rein in tech companies. This week, we discuss the second-order impacts cascading through the industry from attempts to regulate digital privacy and from, of course, the development of AI. Also, what does Vice owing Ranker money say about media today?
| |||
| 08 Aug 2024 | Monopolies and Memes | 01:02:10 | |
A federal judge has ruled Google a monopoly for locking up distribution with Apple. We discuss the percent and likely impact. Also, memes as the media format of the moment, as they become how big events like the Olympics and presidential election become participatory. Meanwhile, YouTube is becoming modern TV.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 13 Sep 2024 | 100th Episode with Emily Sundberg | 01:13:44 | |
This week we’re joined by Emily Sundberg and celebrate our 100th episode, talking about classic topics like X vs Threads and is Silence the best product.
| |||
| 07 Jun 2023 | Enter the Face Computer | 00:58:24 | |
Apple has unveiled its long-anticipated entree into mixed reality, with the announcement of a headset that will be available starting next year. We discuss whether the Vision Pro stands a chance as a mass consumer product, along with the outlook for CNN as its revamp devolves into chaos.
| |||
| 15 Feb 2024 | The New Internet | 01:01:19 | |
The arrival of AI means the paradigm of searching for information and entertainment will give way to instant delivery. This week, we discuss the implications for the media ecosystem.
Skip to topic:
| |||
| 05 Sep 2024 | Founder Mode | 01:00:07 | |
Founders can force change that managers (call them operators) can’t, at least as efficiently. Plus: AI land grab update, Gannett’s commerce play goes away, and the Sicilian tonnara and summer books.
| |||