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."Making Sense: Can We Contain Artificial Intelligence?Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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. Debating the Future of AI: A Conversation with Marc AndreessenThe Value of News Content to Google is Way More Than You ThinkTroy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

This week Troy, Brian and Alex talk about their summer media habits when on vacation or just trying to unplug.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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?Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.The various events The Rebooting is doing in CannesThe New Attention Economy at the Kerv CafeTroy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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.TemuPalantir AIP | Defense and MilitaryTroy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

The battle for engagement has long been a losing battle. The arrival of AI, and the prospect of limitless synthetic content, means media companies on the hunt for engagement are bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. Perhaps it’s time to consider ambient media, the humbler request for people’s partial attention but done in such a way as to establish durable human connection.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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. Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Today we talk about why a lack of alignment led to the demise of the once buzzy Buzzfeed News. We also dive into local news, how AI changes the scale game, and our now not so secret new project.Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Nobody likes friction, at least in the moment. It stands in the way of accomplishing a task. Modern life in many ways has been an exercise in applying technology to remove friction from everyday processes. There has long been too much friction in media businesses, not just in delivery but in the service of making as much money as possible. This week, we discuss the positives and negatives of friction in media products.Some links:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

This week, Troy, Alex and Brian discuss how we come up with ideas and take them through to execution. We break down the phases, from thinking to making to editing.

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.

It's been 20 years, and despite endless attempts to bend the internet to its will, advertising remains a fraught part of the digital media experience. The internet put the consumer in control, connected the impression to the transaction, and in the process, completely transformed how we think about advertising, personal data sovereignty, and its underlying economics.AI is about to change things all over again.Troy, Alex, and Brian delve into digital advertising's messy history, failed attempts at innovation, and the impact of new interfaces that flatten the space between desire and fulfillment.This week, we invite our Gen Z friend and Troy's son, Seb, to provide a generational perspective.Plus, Succession is a good product. Enjoy!

Brian, Troy, and Alex tackle the fascinating topic of formats and explore why they can make or break media companies. Note: this is a re-upload of the episode because Alex screwed it and uploaded an old episode the first time round. That's what you get for trusting RSS feeds. Some links:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Brian, Troy, and Alex jump on a call to talk about that SVB thing and the discourse around it. Some links:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterThe Humble Co. Compostable Dental Floss Sticks

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.RankerVideo: "I tried using AI. It scared me." by Tom ScottTroy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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?RankerVideo: "I tried using AI. It scared me." by Tom ScottTroy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterAlex Schleifer's Universal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Troy, Alex and Brian discuss what's next for interfaces and how we will be getting our media in the future.Show notes:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesDonks by Felix ColgraveCrown Royal x Super Bowl LVII - Thank You Canada (this is the video Troy mentions at the end of the episode)Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

Troy, Alex and Brian discuss differentiation or uniqueness and what it means as the algorithmic age moves into new territory.Show notes:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal Entities"Kids in the 60s..." tweetFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesLaid Off by @AiyyoShraddha on YouTubeFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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 valuaShow notes:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

We're still in January so we thought we might as well slip in a late predictions episode. Everyone came prepared.Show notes:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterThe Information: Microsoft and OpenAI working on ChatGPT-Powered Bing

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterTh

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:Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletterBrian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletterUniversal EntitiesFollow Alex, Brian and Troy on TwitterMeta’s Galactica AI & The End Of Science

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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.

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.

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.

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 [email protected]. Thank you to Jay Sparks of PodHelp.us for editing this podcast. The theme music was created by Alex Schleifer of Universal Entities.

This week we discuss what's making everyone feel so pessimistic. Plus Lex, Ye, the Coffee Lady, TikTok and rebranding Jesus. Brian's intro: "This is our ninth episode of this show. We started out with a rough idea of what it would be, and we'll continue to evolve it as we go. One big help to us as we think through how to improve is to get your feedback. This week we're talking about catastrophic. I was a history major and I still love reading history. Part of that is because there are patterns that exist in history.The old saying is that history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. Mark Twain probably said that, and even if he didn't, he'd get credit for it on Twitter. Now, reading history helps you put what's happening around you, and it always seems like you're living through particularly chaotic and challenging times in some perspective, and I often feel.Though what is now called the discourse is unhelpfully catastrophic? Yes, I know. There's war in Europe. Hundreds are dying every day of Covid still. We have political instability and retrograde forces. The economy is overheated and heading into perilous territory. Climate change is moving from uh, cause to a possible extinction event.I could go on in short, it is not a good time if you are naturally inclined to anxiety. Yet this catastrophic warranted in areas like climate change for sure is likely counterproductive in the long run. You just need to go back to Cassandra.She warned of impeding doom so much through her prophecies that when she warned of a real impending disaster, nobody believed her. We run that risk in our fragmented and tribalized media culture where it's popular to throw around terms like late capitalism and hellscape. Now ignoring problems is in the answer, but perhaps a bit of humility is, after all, none of us has all the answers to life's riddles."Links:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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.

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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:Drug HunterSkimsThe Chernin GroupMr Beast BurgerMore by the hosts:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

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:The People vs Algorithm NewsletterThe Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsUniversal Entities

In this inaugural episode Brian and Troy discuss who's the biggest asshole, Apple or Facebook? Also, is quiet quitting a thing and if so, is it bad? Plus, Game of Thrones, The Six Million Dollar Man, and watching ads in Saskatchewan.Links:The Rebooting NewsletterThe Rebooting PodcastsThe People vs Algorithm NewsletterUniversal Entities