People vs Algorithms

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.

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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 Andreessen
• The Value of News Content to Google is Way More Than You Think
• Troy Young's People vs Algorithms newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
• Follow 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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
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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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
• Follow 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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
• Follow 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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
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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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
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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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
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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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
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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 newsletter
• Brian Morrissey's The Rebooting newsletter
• Alex Schleifer's Universal Entities
• Follow Alex, Brian and Troy on Twitter