Can We Have Your Attention?

Is monoculture dead? Sam Fender and Olivia Dean's Rein Me In became the longest-running UK number one, yet plenty of people say they have never heard it. James and Claire ask Dr Chris Anderton, associate professor in cultural economy at Southampton Solent University, what has changed in how we find and share culture.

They discuss how on-demand media and algorithms split our attention, why online communities replace third spaces for younger people, how social media drives music discovery, why radio leans on catalogue, whether the charts still matter, and why nostalgia tours and artists' public identities now carry so much weight.

Read the Guardian article that prompted this episode, "Demise of the monoculture: why so many have never heard UK's record-breaking No 1 single": https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/aug/05/demise-monoculture-why-have-so-many-never-heard-uk-record-breaking-no-1-single-sam-fender-olivia-dean

Dr Chris Anderton's staff profile at Southampton Solent University: https://www.solent.ac.uk/staff/academic/chris-anderton

Some of the songs mentioned in the episode:

* Rein Me In, Sam Fender and Olivia Dean: https://open.spotify.com/track/1mMRddLLTQgjxVmgXQOYhT?si=5c981d4e3ffa4baf

* Dai Dai, Shakira and Burna Boy: https://open.spotify.com/track/0kosUz0jePvjiz4ctmR6wL?si=7c81dbbb363f4dc5

* Baker Street, Gerry Rafferty: https://open.spotify.com/track/3V07f70cRjUDg4KqDzHhFg?si=780649742d0a481f

* Dreams, Fleetwood Mac: https://open.spotify.com/track/0ofHAoxe9vBkTCp2UQIavz?si=336898c20c924779

Chris's listening picks

* Tangerine Dream, the Berlin electronic group founded in 1967: https://www.tangerinedreammusic.com

* Mike Keneally, former member of Frank Zappa's 1988 touring band: https://www.keneally.com

* Ani DiFranco: https://www.anidifranco.com

* Elina Duni, Swiss-Albanian jazz singer: https://www.elinaduni.com

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy.

* Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham

* Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com

* Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com

* Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

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Claire and James discuss Aaron Sorkin’s film, The Social Reckoning, a companion to The Social Network.

The film follows former Facebook employee Frances Haugen and the period from 2018 to 2021, when she shared internal company documents with journalists and lawmakers.

We also look at Facebook’s “meaningful social interactions” change, which shifted the feed to show more content from friends and family. Internal documents described how the algorithm favoured posts that prompted strong reactions and sharing, and how this could increase the reach of extreme content.

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy.

Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham

Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com

Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com

Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

You can also watch this episode on our YouTube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/@CanWeHaveYourAttention

We all know what the news is. But how is it put together, and why? What makes the news news, and what can we learn from the decisions journalists make on a daily basis - and how do we apply those to brands?

Join Claire and James this week as they talk tricks of the trade - live, in the same room, for only the second time in twenty years (and two weeks).

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy.

Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham

Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com

Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com

Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

You can also watch this episode on YouTube!

Anyone can buy an ad (well, almost anyone…). But what are some of the tricks of the trade? Are we really suckers for shiny things? And what does Gillian Anderson have to do with it?

The answers to the above are yes, and everything, always. Join Claire and James this week as they talk tricks of the trade - live, in the same room, for the first time in twenty years.

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

Ad tech, the backbone of digital advertising, is a lucrative business. But why? Who is profiting from it? And at what cost? Claire and James are joined this week by Claire Atkin, Co-founder and CEO of the Check My Ads Institute. They discuss ad tech: what it is, how it works, why it makes money, for whom it makes money - and what the consequences are.

More about Check My Ads:

• Check My Ads - Public Policy Platform: https://checkmyads.org/policy/
• Real-Time Bidding explained: https://checkmyads.org/rtb-explained/
• Advertising Role in the Southport Riots: https://bit.ly/46ncAkJ
• National security challenges of ad tech: https://bit.ly/4zP1F0s

Location data isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. This problem is known in the ad industry as ‘signal loss’. In short, location data is much more unreliable, it’s driving up digital ad buying costs, and nobody is entirely sure whether the data it returns is reliable anymore. It’s a problem the ad industry is frantically grappling with, but as silently as possible (because, you know, money).

• ‘IAB Finds Signal Loss Driving Higher Ad Cost, Shift To Contextual’ via Mediapost https://bit.ly/3T5zFoR 
• This article describes how advertisers attempt to deal with the challenge. It generally relies on being able to sell stuff through a website, to a large number of people, for a reasonably long time. (via Forbes) https://bit.ly/4qZy54w 

More Background

• Documentary about data brokers and surveillance (via Die Welt on YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y07j3hXAI-g
• Data lakes and their role in ad tech, i.e. ‘The Dark Horses of Surveillance Capitalism’ - Helena Malikova (Harvard Kennedy School): https://bit.ly/4gz7QhM 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

For the past 25 years, claims on packets of crisps have been subject to more regulation than claims in election campaigns. But that could finally be about to change. Amendments to the Representation of the People Bill promise to apply some of the UK’s strenuous - and effective - advertising standards to election advertising. We are joined by Alex Tait, ad industry veteran and founder of the non-partisan campaign organisation Reform Political Advertising, one of the groups advocating these changes. Alex, together with Benedict Pringle, set up Reform Political Advertising to change the law. What does fact-based election advertising mean in practice? How can regulation that applies to commercial brand advertising improve political trust? How long does it take to turn an idea into a law? And can turkeys really vote for Christmas? 

• Find out more about Reform Political Advertising: https://reformpoliticaladvertising.org/
• Ask Your MP to Prevent Lies in Political Advertising: https://reformpoliticaladvertising.org/take-action/email-your-mp/ 
• The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) advertising codes: https://www.asa.org.uk/codes-and-rulings/advertising-codes.html 
• Marketing and Advertising - The Law: https://www.gov.uk/marketing-advertising-law 

Also mentioned:

• Vote for Claire (by which we mean, vote to support 6 Ways to Save the Ad Funded Internet at SXSW 2027): https://bit.ly/4gqY9Rf 
• In 2017, Claire interviewed a bunch of political strategists about campaign tactics, and boy did they tell her stuff. Full paper here: https://bit.ly/3TWgsWV 

Related:

• Electoral Commission: Concerns about misinformation are rising, trust in political messaging is falling, and social media may be normalising abuse: https://bit.ly/46fIv6c 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com 
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com 
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected]

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

We're told the news is an important part of a functioning society. But is our 24-hour, always-on news culture, with bad news to the fore, actually harming us and our institutions?

In this episode, James Wickham and Claire Coady explore the nature of news, its impact on society, and how media practices influence public perception and trust. They discuss whether quality journalism has declined, the rise of social media, and whether regulation would foster a healthier media ecosystem.

From the episode:

The Reuters Digital News Report 2026: https://tinyurl.com/tun9ddad

Reach pivots away from... reach: https://tinyurl.com/48an4ww5

James' media training services: https://www.phonogram.co.uk

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com 
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com 
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected] 

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

Is AI like steroids for disinformation? Claire Coady and James Wickham are joined by Sam Stockwell from The Alan Turing Institute to discuss their research into AI-generated disinformation – from AI songs and fake rappers, to fabricated forensic "evidence" and chatbots that repeat whatever is popular on social media. They discuss why the real problem isn't just deepfakes but sheer volume, and what governments and AI firms can do about it. And do brands and advertisers, who fund the whole ecosystem, hold more leverage than they realise?

From the episode:

Adding Fuel to the Fire: AI Information Threats and Crisis Events via CETaS (The Alan Turing Institute): https://tinyurl.com/3jsaykca 

CETaS AI Disinformation Repository: https://tinyurl.com/nhdb6c6r 

Check My Ads – the digital advertising watchdog: https://checkmyads.org/ 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com 
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com 
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected] 

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

Has the Age of Attention Scarcity given way to the Attention Revolution? Recent data from Ofcom shows that over the past 12 months, discontent with online life is growing – and people’s behaviours are changing too, with major consequences for the media, advertisers, and communications. As more people avoid the ad-funded internet, and public support for restrictions and bans increases, what’s stopping industry and government from changing?

Claire Coady and James Wickham discuss a year after Claire's Attention Scarcity paper, how we should rethink the media ecosystem, and how attention-aware thinking can help us save it.

Mentioned in this show: 

• The Age of Attention Scarcity - the paper that started this: https://tinyurl.com/2mejpyp2 
• Ofcom: 59% of UK adults say that the benefits of being online outweigh the risks - down from 71% one year ago. https://tinyurl.com/3sbdp6yn 
• Deloitte: 29% of Gen Z smartphone users have deleted a social media app in the last 12 months, citing fatigue, misinformation, and a negative effect on their mental health https://tinyurl.com/3kmfk8ps 
• Ofcom: AI usage reduces Google search clicks, growth in traffic to AI services in 2025 coincides with decrease in traffic to search engines, increase in traffic to news aggregators and health services at the expense of ad-funded news and information websites https://tinyurl.com/4sv662vy 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com 
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com 
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected] 

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.

Trust in news is down, and news avoidance is up. Many people don’t know what to believe, or who to trust. How can legacy media convince audiences to trust them when they're under attack – but loathe to change? Rebecca Skippage, the former Global Disinformation Editor at BBC News, joins Claire and James this week to discuss misinformation, disinformation, legacy media, meeting people where they are, and how organisations like the BBC can rise to the challenge. 

• Find out more about Rebecca Skippage: https://rebeccaskippage.com/
• In the UK, trust in news is at 30% (-5pp) – an all-time low – while news avoidance is at an all-time high of 50% (+4pp). More from the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2026: https://tinyurl.com/mr36zdpx 
• Email your MP and ask them to support amendments to stop lies in election advertising (via Reform Political Advertising - a politically neutral campaign) https://tinyurl.com/59bbhz2w 

Can We Have Your Attention? is a podcast all about attention scarcity and the War for Attention. Join hosts Claire Coady and James Wickham as they dive into how your attention is attracted, tracked, traded, and manipulated in the modern attention economy. 

• Hosted by: Claire Coady & James Wickham
• Produced by: Phonogram https://www.phonogram.co.uk in conjunction with The Attention Practice https://www.theattentionpractice.com 
• Find out more on our website https://canwehaveyourattention.com 
• Got a story for us? Email us: [email protected] 

Like this episode? If you enjoyed this episode, please click subscribe. If you really liked it, please leave a rating - every rating helps this podcast reach more listeners like you.