The Inside Track

People, Ideas, & Stories shaping how we work, live, and build the future.

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Podcasting's Next Dollar Is Not in Ads. It's in Fandom Infrastructure.

Spotify's Legends Club is a bet that the most valuable podcast audiences are the ones willing to show up in person — and pay for the privilege.

Creator Programming Is Already TV.

52 billion minutes of long-form creator content consumed last year — funded out of influencer budgets. That mispricing is the biggest near-term opportunity in media advertising.

Big Events Don't Set the Culture Anymore. Creators Do.

The Oscars needed 250,000 creator uploads and 3 billion views to stay culturally relevant.

YouTube Is the Only Screen That Matters Now.

YouTube's ad revenue now exceeds Disney, NBCU, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery combined. That is not a platform story. It is a repricing of where media economics actually live.

The Live Nation Settlement Is Not What It Looks Like.

Seven states accepted the deal. Thirty-two refused. The real fight over who controls live-event infrastructure is just starting — and the implications run far beyond ticketing.

'Supply Chain Risk': The Three Words That Can Kill a Tech Company Overnight.

Anthropic refused to let the Pentagon use its AI for mass surveillance and autonomous weapons. The government responded by treating it like Huawei.

The Next Media Roll-Up Won't Be Glamorous. It'll Be Niche, Profitable, and Boring.

B2B newsletters and vertical podcasts with 80% gross margins, 85-90% retention, and SaaS-like economics are being repriced by buyers who finally understand recurring revenue in media.

The Writers' Union Can't Manage Its Own Labor.

Amidst staff strikes and major mergers, the WGA begins studio negotiations on March 16 as the industry shifts toward AI experimentation and talent deals strictly tied to revenue.

The Agency Bundle Is Unbundling. The Pieces Left Are the Lowest-Value Ones.

Production, distribution, and representation used to be one package. Now creators handle production (or AI does), platforms handle distribution, and the agency is left holding introductions and negotiation — the two cheapest pieces.