New Media Show (Video)

Watch episode 693 on YouTube

Creators produce content, build audiences, sell products, hire people, and take financial risks. So what changes when the federal government more clearly recognizes that work as a small business?

In New Media Show #693, Rob Greenlee talks with Avi Gandhi, Chair of Government Advocacy at the Creators Guild of America and founder of Creator Access Network, about the Small Business Administration’s October 15, 2026 guidance on qualifying creator businesses. Avi explains how the effort came together, what the NAICS 5121 classification means, and why access to capital and business support could help creators build beyond their next sponsorship.

The conversation moves from policy to the business a creator can build: original products, services, memberships, physical locations, and assets with value beyond an individual post or platform payout. Rob and Avi also explore AI, self-employment, verified professional work, and the responsibilities that come with running a business.

The central question: can clearer recognition help podcasters, YouTubers, and other creators turn audience relationships into more sustainable businesses?

Avi describes the announcement as a milestone in recognizing creators as entrepreneurs. Behind a podcast, video channel, or newsletter is often a business handling production, distribution, customer acquisition, monetization, and expenses.

The SBA’s guidance places qualifying creator businesses within the existing NAICS 5121 — Motion Picture and Video Industries framework for program eligibility. That is an industry group, rather than a new six-digit code reserved exclusively for creators. The applicable six-digit classification depends on what a business principally does.

The SBA’s announcement also makes a useful distinction: creator businesses have long been eligible for support when they meet the relevant requirements. The clarification addresses uncertainty about classification. It does not mean every creator automatically qualifies for a loan or government contract.

Rob and Avi discuss three areas where clearer recognition can matter: SBA-backed lending, federal contracting opportunities, and small business counseling. A creator might need capital for production equipment, product development, inventory, or a physical space. Whether financing is available depends on the business, the use of funds, the lender, and the program’s requirements.

SBA-backed financing is borrowing that must be repaid. For example, the SBA’s 7(a) program requires creditworthiness and a reasonable ability to repay, and applications go through participating lenders. The SBA guarantee supports the lender; it does not remove the borrower’s obligations.

Contracting is another potential path where a creator’s services fit an agency’s needs and applicable requirements. Avi presents that as an opportunity to develop, rather than a promise of immediate work. For creators who first need help understanding their business, local mentorship and counseling may be the more useful starting point.

Avi explains the collaborative effort behind the guidance, including the Creators Guild of America, Shira Lazar and Creators for Mental Health, industry participants, congressional offices, and the SBA. A recurring request from creators was recognition: a clearer place within the systems other small businesses use.

He describes two related efforts: working within an existing classification to address immediate access, and continuing to advocate for a classification that would make the creator economy easier to measure. A dedicated category, he argues, could help policymakers better understand creator employment, business activity, and economic contributions. The guidance discussed in this episode is an interim step in that broader effort.

One of the episode’s biggest business questions is who receives the long-term value generated by a creator’s influence. Rob brings up TikTok Shop and Whatnot as examples of content and commerce coming together. The discussion distinguishes between promoting another company’s products and building a product business a creator owns.

Avi sees access to capital as a possible catalyst for creators developing physical goods, opening retail locations, and producing in-person experiences. Those businesses require money for development, samples, inventory, rent, and operations. His larger argument is that creators can bring an existing audience relationship to a business that might otherwise need to build demand from scratch.

Rob also notes that some live sellers already make and sell their own creations. The opportunity spans several models, from an individual artist selling original work to a creator developing a repeatable product line. Each has different costs, risks, and potential value.

Rob and Avi consider how AI and automation could change the relationship between employment and entrepreneurship. Avi sees creators as part of a broader move toward self-employment, with content helping people sell expertise, services, products, and community access.

Rob shares his experience using AI to build websites with business processes and platform capabilities. The tools can expand what one person can produce, while still requiring skills, judgment, and a clear purpose. Both speakers connect that change to a larger question: how people can turn their experience and ideas into businesses they control.

Avi’s view is that the creator economy is increasingly becoming part of the wider economy. Founders, executives, established companies, and local businesses are all using content to reach customers. The episode explores what that convergence might mean over the next several years.

Avi introduces other Creators Guild of America initiatives, including Mosaic, which he describes as a way to showcase professional work and have participating partners verify their involvement. For a creator discussing a new sponsorship, evidence of past collaborations can help establish credibility.

He also discusses the Guild’s Brand Deal Rider, designed to bring baseline protections into sponsorship negotiations, and education on business practices and disclosures. Through Creator Access Network, Avi shares interviews about creator business models and offers access to discounts on tools and professional services.

Avi’s recommended first step is the Creators Guild of America’s free SBA 101 course. It explains classification, preparation for capital, loan programs, counseling, and contracting. Creators seeking financing apply through the relevant lender or program; there is no single general SBA registration that automatically unlocks every benefit.

The closing discussion covers recordkeeping, business bank accounts, legal structure, and liability. Rob and Avi acknowledge that creators are at different stages, from experimenting with content to handling sponsor commitments and meaningful revenue. An LLC is not blanket protection from liability. Business structure and financing decisions should fit the creator’s actual activities and circumstances.

A useful next step: identify the business you are building, the revenue it already produces, and the constraint you need to solve. Then decide whether education, professional support, or capital would make the most practical difference.

Approximate chapter times follow the supplied transcript’s minute markers. The separate audio edition may differ.

Avi Gandhi is Chair of Government Advocacy at the Creators Guild of America and founder of Creator Access Network. His experience spans creator representation, production, partnerships, and platforms, including WME, Wheelhouse, and Patreon. In this conversation, he brings both an advocate’s perspective and his own experience running a creator business.

Rob Greenlee hosts New Media Show and founded Trust Factor Lab. He is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee. New Media Show explores podcasting, video, AI, audience trust, and the business of creator media.

Build an audience. Earn trust. Grow a media business.

AI tools helped organize and draft these show notes from the episode transcript, with SBA and guest resource links checked against their published sources. The summary paraphrases the conversation between human host Rob Greenlee and human guest Avi Gandhi.

The post Creators Get SBA Classification. Now What? | Avi Gandhi, Creators Guild #693 first appeared on New Media Show.

In New Media Show #692, Rob Greenlee takes the conversation into Gotham Production Studios in New York City for an in-person discussion with co-founders Brianna Peters and Matt Peters about the changing business of video podcast production.

From a quick studio tour to a conversation about cameras, content strategy, AI, and audience relationships, this episode explores what it takes to create a show people keep coming back to.

The key question: how can creators improve video production quality, build a sustainable business, and preserve the human connection that makes podcasting valuable?

Identify the biggest constraint on your next episode: the content, sound, lighting, editing time, or discovery. Choose one improvement you can sustain, define the result you want, and review what changes over your next four episodes. This editorial exercise draws on the discussion.

Gotham began in 2017 with a practical problem: Matt needed a better place to record his own podcast. What started as an audio recording space grew into a service business as clients asked for help producing their shows. Brianna and Matt explain how an early webcam setup evolved into multicamera studios, with a more substantial video investment in 2019 and a shift toward brands and professional creators after the pandemic.

That change reached beyond cameras. Lighting, furniture, set design, and the in-room experience became part of the production offering. Matt explains why Gotham increasingly refers to its clients’ productions as shows and encourages businesses to consider them as part of a broader marketing strategy.

Matt describes Gotham’s usual three-camera approach and why some visual effects are more practical to create in post-production than with additional camera operators. The discussion also examines the pressure created by celebrity shows and television-scale expectations. Matt worries that expensive productions can discourage people from starting; Brianna emphasizes that a strong concept and audience connection can still stand out on a smaller budget.

For creators, the question becomes how much production serves the show. Rob and his guests explore the balance between polish, accessibility, and the natural conversation that audiences associate with podcasting.

Brianna and Matt explain the challenge of giving each show a distinctive look inside a shared studio. Small branding elements can work within existing rooms, while dedicated sets require more space and planning. They describe past custom productions and their plans for a future location with more flexible sets and space for live recordings, ticketed events, and brand activations. These are plans for Gotham’s next phase.

Brianna shares her coaching approach: cut the noise from generic advice, clarify why someone is creating a show, and build actionable steps around that person’s goals. The conversation challenges the idea that one workbook, formula, or celebrity example can provide the right plan for every creator.

Matt explains Gotham’s internal approach to assessing a show and finding manageable improvements. Thumbnails, clips, websites, guest selection, and appearances on other podcasts can all play a role. Drawing on his work with Greg Fitzsimmons’ Fitzdog Radio and Sunday Papers, he describes refreshing the packaging and discovery strategy while keeping the host’s established voice.

Brianna describes using AI to support operations, marketing, discoverability, and editing. She also predicts that uncertainty about synthetic and staged media could increase demand for tangible, in-person experiences. Rob connects that possibility to audience trust and the value of direct human interaction.

The discussion considers how creators can use new tools while maintaining their judgment and identity. For Gotham, that includes exploring a studio environment where recording, community, and live experiences can happen in the same place.

Can one person still do it all? Matt believes there is still room for creators working with a microphone and webcam, while suggesting that outside help can relieve production bottlenecks when resources allow. Rob reflects on running New Media Show himself to understand the tools and workflows shaping the industry.

The conversation closes with the value of smaller, engaged audiences, newsletters, memberships, merchandise, and direct support. Rob and Matt also discuss their concerns about ad skipping and how AI might affect advertising models. Their broader point is to consider the relationship a show creates, alongside its reach and production quality.

Approximate chapter times follow the supplied video transcript’s minute markers. The separate audio edition may differ.

Brianna Peters and Matt Peters are the co-founders of Gotham Production Studios in New York City. Brianna discusses strategy, coaching, client relationships, and business development; Matt shares his perspective on production, storytelling, editing, and show growth.

Rob Greenlee hosts New Media Show and founded Trust Factor Lab. He is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee. New Media Show explores podcasting, video, AI, audience trust, and the business of creator media.

Build an audience. Earn trust. Grow a media business.

AI tools helped organize and draft these show notes from the supplied episode transcript. The summary paraphrases the recorded conversation. The conversation features human host Rob Greenlee and human guests Brianna Peters and Matt Peters. The transcript also identifies an AI-generated voice introduction.

The post What Does a Video Podcast Need to Compete? At Gotham Production Studios in NYC | #692 first appeared on New Media Show.

In New Media Show #691, Rob Greenlee and podcast sponsorship strategist Losh Moodaley examine a practical question: when does the cost of video serve the creator’s business? Their conversation connects production economics, audience relationships, sponsorships and human creativity in an AI-driven media environment.

Try this: Add up the time and money behind one episode. Choose the outcome it should support—such as a qualified inquiry, a subscription or a useful audience response—and track the available evidence over a defined period. Compare that evidence with the cost before expanding production. This is an editorial exercise, not a prediction of revenue or growth.

Losh’s article, The Price of Visibility: The Hidden Economics of Podcast Video, frames the discussion. Video can introduce a show to new people, but equipment, editing, lighting and publishing work add costs. More viewing time does not automatically produce a sustainable business for the creator.

Rob and Losh discuss changing viewing habits and the distinction between discovery, attention and commercial value. Their views on platform incentives and the future of distribution are interpretations and predictions expressed in the conversation.

Losh argues that the right decision depends on the purpose of the show. A hobby, an advertising-supported podcast and a show that supports consulting or product sales have different economics. She suggests looking at video as a possible customer-acquisition and marketing investment, rather than relying on one measure such as CPM or downloads.

The useful test is what happens after someone discovers the content. A new viewer might become a subscriber, customer, community participant or professional contact. Those outcomes need evidence; they cannot be inferred from views alone.

Rob and Losh discuss using websites, newsletters, subscriptions and communities to maintain direct audience relationships. They also emphasize the value of intellectual property and the risks of relying entirely on another company’s distribution rules.

The conversation considers direct brand relationships, memberships, services and experiences alongside conventional advertising. Losh questions generic sponsor integrations and discusses approaches that create a useful audience experience. These are opportunities to evaluate, not evidence of a particular show’s revenue.

Rob describes his observations of Whatnot, including live sales, audience participation and collaborations between creators. He and Losh explore how elements of that experience might apply to other media businesses.

They also consider where the model may not fit. Some visual content loses meaning when heard without a screen. Rob explains why he has sometimes edited audio and video separately, and questions whether a single production approach serves every audience.

The discussion moves from what audiences call a podcast to how creators evaluate attention and business outcomes. Rob speculates that AI might eventually help reconcile fragmented metrics. This is a prediction, not a claim that a reliable unified measurement system already exists.

Rob and Losh distinguish human-created work, AI-assisted human work and fully synthetic media. They explore the possibilities for new characters and experiences while returning to human connection, judgment and responsibility. Their forecasts about synthetic media should be understood as opinions about possible developments.

Losh’s closing advice emphasizes consistency, a suitable niche, understanding the audience and considering business models beyond standard advertising. Rob argues for testing whether a workflow and idea are sustainable before making a larger investment.

The central editorial takeaway is to assess what video contributes to the creator’s goals, rather than treating platform visibility as an end in itself.

Choose a chapter to jump within the video player. These timings follow the edited video; the separate audio edition may differ.

Losh Moodaley is a podcast sponsorship and brand-partnerships strategist.

Rob Greenlee hosts New Media Show and founded Trust Factor Lab. He is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee. Explore the episode library and episode newsletter.

AI tools assisted with transcription, organization and editing of these show notes. The summary paraphrases the recorded conversation; the “Try this” exercise is an editorial suggestion. The episode features human host Rob Greenlee and human guest Losh Moodaley.

The post Who Profits From Video? The Real Cost of Video Podcasting | #691 first appeared on New Media Show.

WATCH OR LISTEN · EPISODE 690

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In New Media Show #690, Rob Greenlee talks with Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, about AI editing, creative direction and the decisions that make a creator’s work distinctive. The conversation asks what becomes more valuable about human judgment as production tools become more capable.

Try this: Choose one repetitive editing task for AI assistance. Write down the intended story, compare the automated result with the original, and record the time saved and corrections needed before publishing. This is an editorial exercise informed by the conversation, not a promise of a particular result.

Laura distinguishes between creators whose art is editing and creators whose primary art is storytelling. An experienced editor may want precise control over individual choices. A storyteller may want help removing the technical obstacles between an idea and an audience. Those needs call for different workflows.

Rob and Laura explore the shift toward directing AI tools. A useful prompt depends on knowing the intended result, communicating it clearly and judging what the tool produces. Laura’s point is that a creator’s perspective remains important even when the technical work becomes easier.

Laura describes an approach that reduces repetitive production work while leaving the creator responsible for the vision and story. Rob connects that to his experience assembling radio programs manually and using newer editing tools.

The discussion also considers the expectations AI companies create. Claims about effortless production can overlook the creative decisions that still need attention. The practical question is which work should be automated and which choices deserve deliberate human review.

Rob asks whether an unedited recording is necessarily more authentic than an edited conversation. Laura argues that editing can make meaning easier to understand. A close-up or reaction shot can clarify an emotional moment, provided it serves the conversation rather than changing its meaning.

They also discuss the tension between being authentic and performing authenticity online. Laura emphasizes a recognizable human presence and engagement with a community. Rob relates this to his work with Trust Factor Lab and the importance of human connection as synthetic media becomes more common.

Laura was a Descript customer before joining the company. Producing a podcast with a friend helped her discover that she could create and share work without first mastering a complicated production process. Her advice in the conversation is to start recording, editing and learning.

Rob and Laura question whether pressure to monetize immediately can discourage experimentation. They distinguish media sold as a product from media that supports another business, such as consulting, coaching or a founder-led company. They also consider community support and sponsorships relevant to a specific audience. These are possible models, not guaranteed outcomes.

Laura explains her preference for intentional viewing, including turning off YouTube recommendations. Rob describes using both subscriptions and discovery. Their discussion asks what personalization systems optimize for and whether engagement alone captures a useful human outcome.

In the closing discussion, Laura outlines a direction for Descript beyond individual editing tasks: helping creators develop subject areas, build a useful content library, distribute work and learn from it. These comments describe her perspective on future development at the time of the recording, not a list of features independently verified as available today.

Choose a chapter to jump within the video player. These timings follow the edited video; the separate audio edition may differ.

Laura Burkhauser is the guest and Descript CEO in this episode.

Rob Greenlee hosts New Media Show and founded Trust Factor Lab. He is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee. Find more conversations in the episode library or receive the episode newsletter.

AI tools assisted with transcription, organization and editing of these show notes. The summary paraphrases the recorded conversation; the “Try this” exercise is an editorial suggestion. The episode features human host Rob Greenlee and human guest Laura Burkhauser.

The post How AI Is Changing the Creator Workflow | Descript CEO Laura Burkhauser #690 first appeared on New Media Show.

In New Media Show #689, I’m joined by Jim Louderback, publisher of Inside the Creator Economy and former CEO of VidCon and Revision3, to explore what the next phase of the creator economy means for people building media businesses.

Jim and I have lived through several shifts at the intersection of media and technology. This conversation connects the early days of video podcasting with today’s AI tools, changing audience habits, and the search for a lasting creator business. More ways to create and distribute content bring opportunity, but they also raise questions about attention, ownership, and trust.

Digital Jim and the Human Premium

We start with Digital Jim, the AI version of Jim that turns his human-written newsletter into short videos.

Jim explains how the team at Popcorn uses his words, an AI voice, and a visual avatar to help him reach audiences on LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts. He still writes the newsletter and reviews the videos before sharing them.

That experiment leads to one of the episode’s central ideas: the human premium.

Jim’s hypothesis is that, as audiences encounter more AI-generated media, they may place greater value on recognizable human voices, imperfect conversations, and experiences with real people. We discuss what that could mean for audience relationships, advertising, and in-person events.

Podcasting in a Bigger Creator Economy

We revisit Revision3, Diggnation, and the early use of short clips to introduce people to longer shows. Video podcasting and distributing a conversation in several formats have a longer history than today’s debate sometimes acknowledges.

Jim describes an audio-plus approach: people can listen when that suits them, while video creates another way to discover and experience a show. We also discuss why creators spread their work across platforms, how short-form awareness differs from monetization, and the risks of depending on one platform’s rules.

Could Personalized AI Media Disrupt YouTube

Our platform conversation moves from Netflix’s interest in creator programming to a bigger question:

What could disrupt YouTube? Jim suggests that a major technological shift, rather than another similar video service, could open the door.  His audience-of-one idea goes beyond recommending existing videos. We explore the possibility of media generated specifically for an individual, along with what Jim calls robo-social relationships with AI characters that respond to and remember their users.

We debate these predictions, including how they might compete for time people currently spend with human creators.

Your Identity and Archive Have Value

We discuss the business value of a creator’s name, image, likeness, voice, and archive. I share my experience exploring Royall.ai and receiving inquiries about using past New Media Show conversations as AI training material.

That raises questions about guest permission, licensing, tracking use, and maintaining control over future uses of a creator’s work.

Jim also describes an audio watermarking approach he has encountered, while acknowledging that he has not independently established how well it works. The discussion is about taking identity and content rights seriously as new business models emerge.

Live Shopping and the Next Media Business

Jim explains what he wants readers to get from Inside the Creator Economy: timely reporting, his interpretation of the news, and ideas they can question. We talk about the differences between email subscribers, LinkedIn newsletter subscribers, and the audience numbers platforms report.

We then explore global creator markets, Whatnot, live shopping, and the role of personality and audience participation in commerce.

TBPN’s combination of a live show, a focused audience, and widely distributed clips gives us another example to examine. We close with local AI tools and a practical encouragement from Jim: keep experimenting.

My key takeaways:

Use these tools to expand what you can create, while giving people a reason to connect with you. Your ideas, judgment, and relationships shape the value of the media business you build.

Key topics

Chapter timestamps

Guest Jim Louderback

Jim Louderback publishes the weekly Inside the Creator Economy newsletter and produces, curates, and moderates creator events around the world. He is the former CEO of VidCon and Revision3, and his career also includes leadership and editorial roles at Discovery Digital Networks, TechTV, and PC Magazine.

Host Rob Greenlee

Rob Greenlee is the founder of Trust Factor Lab, host of New Media Show, and a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee and Chair. His work connects podcasting, video, creator platforms, audience trust, and the media business.

AI disclosure

AI tools helped organize and draft these show notes from the completed Episode #689 transcript and edited the full show. Rob Greenlee retains editorial responsibility. The New Media Show is human-hosted with human guests; this episode also includes a disclosed AI-generated Digital Jim video demonstration.

The post The Creator Reset: AI, Trust and What Comes Next | Jim Louderback #689 first appeared on New Media Show.

Your podcast can be available everywhere and still be hard to find. So who controls its future: the creator, the audience, or the platform?

In New Media Show #688, Rob Greenlee welcomes back James Cridland, Editor of Podnews, co-host of the Podnews Weekly Review, and a 2026 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee, for a conversation about what Podcast Week in New York City revealed about our industry.

We compare notes on the IAB Podcast Upfronts, CreatorFronts, and a very different NYC Podcast Movement. James also shares his experience at the Sounds Profitable Business Summit.

The week had plenty of energy, but it also exposed real differences in how creators, platforms, and advertisers see podcasting’s future.

Podcast Movement’s Terminal 5 venue brought challenges around meetings, exhibitor space, and crowding.

James argues that the headphone-based sessions worked better than expected. We also reflect on Tom Webster’s tribute to Todd Cochrane and why the industry still needs people willing to speak up when something is wrong.

Podcasting has expanded its distribution. That doesn’t mean it controls where people discover shows.

Sounds Profitable: Tom Webster’s presentation leads us into YouTube, Spotify, and Netflix, where podcasts compete with much more than other podcasts. James Cridland also cautions against confusing whether someone has ever used a platform with where they regularly listen.

A major part of our conversation is measuring media consumption.

James challenges the IAB’s approach to audio and video, while making another important point: tearing down the download without a workable replacement can undermine the business we already have.

James offers a proposal worth discussing: share advertising revenue with podcast apps that provide useful consumption data.

James argues that apps need a financial reason to invest in discovery and better listening experiences. I raise the concern about taking revenue from creators, and we explore whether growing listening could make that trade worthwhile.

Rob and James also discuss open RSS, HLS video, and Podcasting 2.0 as ways to expand access. That includes discovery built around places and local interests, along with AI production tools that help humans make better content.

Adding video should not make the audio listener a second-class audience. The conversation still needs to work when someone cannot see the screen.

The question is how we keep podcasting open to a wide range of voices while competing in a much bigger media world. More reach matters. So do audience trust, creator choice, and a business that can sustain the work.

Key Topics

– Podcast Week NYC: the business summit, upfronts, CreatorFronts, and Podcast Movement

Guest: James Cridland

Editor of Podnews, co-host of the Podnews Weekly Review, and 2026 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee.

– Podnews Daily Newsletter and Podcast: https://podnews.net

Host: Rob Greenlee

– New Media Show on YouTube: https://youtube.com/@TheNewMediaShow

AI Disclosure

AI tools helped organize and draft these show notes from the completed Episode #688 transcript, and I hand-edited for clarity and accuracy. The conversation and perspectives are human-led, and Rob Greenlee retains editorial responsibility. The New Media Show is human-hosted with human guests.

The post Podcasting’s Identity Crisis: Who Controls Podcasts Now? | James Cridland #688 first appeared on New Media Show.

Getting views, streams, and downloads is not the same as building a business. Subscribers aren’t automatically customers, and a successful YouTube channel doesn’t necessarily mean you have built something sustainable.

In New Media Show #687, Podcast Hall of Famer Rob Greenlee talks with Creator, Educator, Author, and Entrepreneur Roberto Blake, founder of Awesome Creator Academy, about what comes after becoming a content creator and why more creators need to think of themselves as independent media companies rather than defining themselves by one format or platform.

Roberto argues that being a podcaster, YouTuber, streamer, or blogger is increasingly just a distribution choice. The bigger issue is the value you create, the audience relationship you build, and what you actually own.

We get into the shift from audio-first thinking to broader creator media, why professionalism is more about preparation and performance than polished production, and how AI is changing the economics of being a creator.

Roberto sees some of the strongest uses of AI in the operational work around content, including research, data analysis, transcription, organization, editing workflows, and other tasks that can free creators to spend more time on judgment, ideas, and relationships.

A major part of the conversation is about turning attention into a real business.

Roberto describes his framework as “reach, reputation, revenue,” or in a business context, “traffic, trust, transaction.” Getting attention is only the beginning. The real value comes from earning trust and then creating products, services, memberships, intellectual property, or other business models around that relationship.

We also talk about what creators should own. That includes their brand, intellectual property, expertise, direct audience relationships, and the parts of the business that can survive changes at YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or any other platform.

Roberto breaks creator businesses into three broad paths: entertainer, lifestyle brand, and thought leader, with different revenue and growth opportunities for each.

The conversation goes much deeper into AI, human creativity, likeness rights, AI labeling, and synthetic AI media.

Why Roberto believes the bigger risk isn’t simply AI-generated entertainment, but the potential misuse of synthetic media by institutions or people trying to manipulate audiences.

The larger point is simple:

Creators should stop thinking only about the next piece of content and start thinking about what they are building around it.

Key Topics:

Guest: Roberto Blake

Roberto Blake

Awesome Creator Academy

YouTube

Host: Rob Greenlee

AI Disclosure

AI tools helped organize and edit this episode and create the above show notes from the completed Episode #687 transcript. The conversation, perspectives, editorial direction, and final editing were performed, and responsibility for the episode remains human-led. The New Media Show is human-hosted.

The post Don’t Just Make Videos: Build a Creator Media Company | Roberto Blake #687 first appeared on New Media Show.

Podcast media creator publishers may already have more revenue opportunity than they realize. The challenge is not always finding more listeners. It can be understanding what inventory is actually available to sell, what to sell, whether campaigns will deliver, and where revenue is being lost.

In this episode #686 of the New Media Show, Rob Greenlee talks with Sean Howard, CEO and co-founder of Flightpath.fm, about the growing complexity behind new media podcast advertising and why better forecasting, campaign management, publisher data, and revenue optimization are becoming more important.

Sean explains how Flightpath grew out of a problem he experienced from both sides of the business. As an ad buyer, he found that publishers often did not know how much inventory they really had available. As a publisher, he saw the same problem from the other side: uncertainty about whether sold campaigns would actually deliver. Flightpath was built to bring those pieces together through traffic management, prediction, pacing, and cross-platform revenue visibility.

The conversation also gets into dynamic ad insertion and the value of the podcast back catalog. Sean argues that publishers relying too heavily on baked-in ads may be leaving significant revenue on the table because listeners keep consuming older episodes long after release.

Rob and Sean also discuss a larger issue facing content creator publishers today: platform dependence.

As podcast companies expand across multiple hosting platforms, YouTube, Spotify, video, HLS, and other distribution systems, publishers need better access to their own data and a clearer understanding of the business risk that comes with relying too heavily on any one platform.

The bigger question is whether the next stage of media and podcast revenue growth may come not only from finding more audience, but from better understanding and monetizing the audience publishers already have.

Discussion Highlights

Key Topic Timestamps:

Guest

Host

Listen and Watch

AI Disclosure

AI tools helped organize and edit this episode and create the above show notes from the completed Episode #686 transcript. The conversation, perspectives, editorial direction, and final editing were performed, and responsibility for the episode remains human-led. The New Media Show is human-hosted.

The post Hidden Revenue: What Media Publishers Are Leaving Behind | Sean Howard, Flightpath #686 first appeared on New Media Show.

One year ago today, on September 8, 2025, we lost Todd Cochrane.

Todd was my longtime co-host on the New Media Show, a podcast builder from the medium’s earliest days, and one of its strongest advocates for independent creators, open RSS, ownership, and direct connection with audiences.

Looking back on these conversations, what stands out most is how consistently Todd fought for what he believed mattered. He never forgot why podcasting was different in the first place: it removed barriers, gave creators more control, and made it possible to build real communities without asking gatekeepers for permission.

He also understood that none of it came easy. Todd often talked about “sweat equity,” doing the work, building something from the ground up, and earning an audience’s trust over time. That was who he was.

What makes this video especially difficult to watch is the ending. In what became his final New Media Show appearance, Todd signed off the way he always did, expecting there would be another episode:

“We’ll see you next time.”

I wish there had been a next time.

Todd’s voice, his ideas, and the impact he had on podcasting are still very much part of the conversation.

Remembering my friend and New Media Show co-host Todd Cochrane today.

June 4, 1964 – September 8, 2025

More remembrances of Todd Cochrane:

New Media Show: Remembering Todd Cochrane, Podcast Hall of Famer and Blubrry CEO

A special New Media Show episode with Adam Curry, Mike Dell, Rob Walch, and me remembering Todd’s life, personality, career, advocacy for independent podcasting, and his impact on the medium.

New Media Show remembrance

Podnews: Obituary: Todd Cochrane

James Cridland and I worked together on this obituary covering Todd’s life, Navy career, Geek News Central, Blubrry, open RSS advocacy, the Podcast Awards, New Media Show, and his wider impact on podcasting.

Read the Podnews obituary: 

Blubrry Podcasting: Blubrry Founder Todd Cochrane: In Memoriam

The company Todd founded remembered him as the heart of the Blubrry community and said it is committed to continuing his mission of supporting podcasters and independent creators.

Read Blubrry’s remembrance

Geek News Central: Geek News Central Mourns the Loss of Todd Cochrane

Todd’s longtime show and publication remembered its founder, host, and driving force, as well as his impact on technology, podcasting, and the people around him.

Read the Geek News Central remembrance

Podcast Movement: In Memory of Todd Cochrane

Dan Franks reflected on Todd’s early support of Podcast Movement, his willingness to challenge the industry, and his commitment to independent podcasters.

Read the Podcast Movement tribute: 

Sounds Profitable: Remembering Todd Cochrane

Tom Webster shared a personal remembrance of Todd, including how Geek News Central was the first podcast he listened to nearly two decades earlier and how Todd’s belief in creators shaped both his work and his business.

Read Tom Webster’s remembrance: 

Podnews Weekly Review: Remembering Todd Cochrane

James Cridland and Sam Sethi looked back on Todd’s career and included material from an earlier conversation with him about how he began podcasting in 2004 and what the medium meant to him.

Listen to the Podnews Weekly Review remembrance: 

PodBiz: When Independent Voices Shape an Industry: Remembering Todd Cochrane

Recorded before Todd’s passing, this conversation captures him in his own words as he discusses monetization, independent creators, audience trust, and why serving listeners has to come before chasing revenue.

Listen to the PodBiz episode

podCast411: Todd Cochrane Interview from March 2005 Remastered

Rob Walch remastered his original March 2005 interview with Todd, offering a rare chance to hear Todd near the very beginning of the podcasting era.

Listen to the remastered 2005 interview

podCast411: Memorial to Todd Cochrane on New Media Show

Rob Walch also shared the New Media Show memorial conversation with his podCast411 audience.

Listen to the podCast411 memorial feed drop

Podcaster News: Remembering Site Founder Todd Cochrane

The site Todd founded remembered his drive, fearlessness, generosity, and desire to help other people succeed.

Todd Robert Cochrane obituary

Todd’s family obituary provides the personal record of his life, including his Michigan roots, 22 years of Navy service, family, technology interests, and the people he left behind.

Read Todd’s obituary: 

The New Media Show continues today with Todd very much a part of its foundation. The conversations have changed, the industry continues to evolve, and there are still plenty of things I know Todd and I would be debating.

I still miss having him on the other side of that conversation.

The post Remembering Todd Cochrane, One Year Later first appeared on New Media Show.

As AI makes it easier to create more content, human relationships may become more valuable, not less. 

In Episode #685 of the New Media Show, host and Podcast Hall of Famer Rob Greenlee talks with Alex Sanfilippo, founder of PodMatch and host of Podcasting Made Simple, about why relationships between hosts, guests, audiences, collaborators, and communities are becoming an increasingly important part of podcast growth.

The conversation explores podcast guesting, better host-guest matching, AI-assisted workflows, audio and video podcasting, RSS and HLS, creator-owned communities, and why direct audience relationships matter as large platforms gain more control over discovery and monetization.

Human Connection Wins

Alex built PodMatch around a simple problem: podcast hosts could find guests, but finding the “right guest” and managing all the administrative work surrounding an interview took an enormous amount of time.

The goal is to automate the work around the conversation without automating the human connection itself.

Rob and Alex discuss why great podcast conversations create relationships that can continue long after an episode is published.

Better Guests, Better Conversations

A strong podcast guest should arrive ready to lead with value, not simply promote a book, company, or product.

Rob and Alex discuss why:

– Every interview should feel different

Alex also explains how PodMatch is using AI to improve host-guest alignment while reducing research and administrative work.

Audio, Video and the Changing Podcast

The conversation expands into the growing convergence between podcasting and YouTube.

Alex remains audio and RSS-focused but believes podcasting and YouTube are increasingly influencing each other. Podcasting brings depth and long-form conversation while YouTube brings visual discovery and engagement.

Rob and Alex also discuss the HLS video format, alternative enclosures, separate audio and video feeds, and why the current publishing ecosystem can still feel unnecessarily complicated for creators.

Build Relationships You Own

As major platforms change algorithms, monetization rules, and distribution policies, creators have another reason to develop direct relationships with their audiences.

Newsletters, private communities, memberships, events, collaborations, and other owned audience pathways can turn large platforms into discovery and recruiting channels rather than the entire creator business.

Alex sees this community layer becoming an increasingly important part of PodMatch.

Discussion Highlights

– Why human connection becomes more valuable as content expands

Chapter Markers

00:00 When content becomes unlimited, human connection becomes scarce

About Alex Sanfilippo

Alex Sanfilippo is the founder of PodMatch, a platform that connects podcast hosts and guests while streamlining the administrative work around podcast interviews.

He also hosts Podcasting Made Simple, where he helps independent podcast hosts and guests grow their influence, audiences, and businesses.

Guest Links

About the Host

Rob Greenlee is a 2017 Podcast Hall of Fame inductee, Chair of the Podcast Hall of Fame, Founder of Trust Factor Lab, and longtime new-media executive, creator, strategist, and industry leader.

Listen and Watch

AI Disclosure

AI tools helped organize and edit this episode and create the above show notes from the completed Episode #685 transcript. The conversation, perspectives, editorial direction, and final editing and responsibility for the episode remain human-led. The New Media Show is human-hosted.

The post Human Audience Growth in the AI Era | Alex Sanfilippo #685 first appeared on New Media Show.