Business Breakdowns
· Matt Reustle
[00:00:00] S0: It's fascinating. I think there's a lot of points that tie into everything else to wrap things up. If I take what you're saying, if you're to measure attention as being value, which we can debate, social media, the platforms, they're gaining more and more of that share, getting that addiction humming stronger, faster, harder. So those feel like obvious winners. You can make the case that the individual creators or the upstarts who are creating this real connectivity to an audience, there are also net winners in this new environment. Is there anyone else that you would point to that you think could be a winner that emerges from all of this that maybe isn't as obvious?
· Blake Saunders, Matt Reustle
[00:00:00] S1: The winners are independent content creators. Someone said this—there's never been more independent bookstores. Comedians now don't need a Netflix special, even though they all still want to get that check mark to say that they did that. Some of the highest paid streamers are 21 years old. You see a future where a lot of them have big brand partners and sponsorships, and then some of them have made their own products and things like that. So as much as there's a negative downside with social media and its addictiveness, there's also a platform when your content resonates to really scale. There's never been a time like that. Oprah says this when she first got her break, that's why she changed her name. She had to fit within this mold of what they wanted. And then you look at Kai Cenat or these younger streamers—they're whoever they want. I think the one positive thing is they give their generation the ability: you don't have to be polished. One of them said their highest rated stream was when a mouse ran into their room and they freaked out. There is an opportunity to show a bit more of their real life and show people of any age it's okay to not live this perfect world. So I think that's a positive. [00:00:00] S0: I think so, too. There's a trust level and an authenticity, especially in the age of AI, which is even more powerful. This has been a pleasure. I know it was very wide ranging. So thank you for diving deep on so many topics. Thank you again for sharing the knowledge here. [00:00:00] S1: Yeah.