Decoder with Nilay Patel
00:22:11 · Matt Strauss
[00:22:11] S5: Yeah. So, well, Donna Langley, who oversees all of the entertainment programming, she would be the one calling Greg Daniels and giving and giving him that feedback. But here would be maybe a different way to answer that question. I don't think that we're necessarily trying to change the framework of how some of the shows are being created on NBC or on Peacock because there's still something about premium content and how that's being created that I think resonates with a lot of a lot of people. But here's what we're thinking differently, is, okay, take a show like SNL, which we had the fifty year anniversary for SNL, a couple of years ago, which is unbelievable what Lorne Michaels has created. You still have SNL that's on 11:30, PM Eastern Time. But what if we now take that content and we format it for vertical video on Peacock? We know that there's a whole cohort of people because of TikTok or Reels that they're watching on their phone. They're likely holding it vertically. They're likely using their forefinger or their thumb to navigate. They're watching a show like SNL on YouTube in some cases as well. Well, instead of trying to recreate or tell viewers how to watch the content, why don't we just take that content and reformat it in a way that's more akin to them? And so now you can go to Peacock and you can watch content in a vertical video format. That may not be for you, but it might be for somebody else where they want to swipe sketch to sketch to sketch because that's how they enjoy it. Or let me give you another example, which is sports. I mentioned earlier how we try to introduce new features around sports because it's such a passionate fandom. And you can't change the way somebody watches an NBA game. People want to watch an NBA game in the way that it's being produced. But the lines are getting blurred around what's a live event and what's a video game, especially if you grew up playing NBA two ks. And so we now introduce something called Performance View, which is on Peacock. So you can watch the NBA game or you can enable Performance View. If you enable Performance View, an overlay comes on top of the game. And now it looks like a video game where we're pulling in real time sports data from Sportradar. We're calculating the probability of somebody making a shot.
00:24:35 · Matt Strauss, S6, S7, Nilay Patel
We're We're using graphical overlays to show the trajectory of the ball. We're putting the names over the players heads just so it's a little bit easier so you can kind of follow what's going on. And you're not changing the core production, you're enhancing it. The enhancement of it, whether it's something like Performance View, whether it's something like I'm describing with SNL, whether it's, again, rethinking the windowing of the content, I think it's all of these types of tactics and features that are allowing us to kind of reach new viewers, but also allow them to consume the content on their terms. And the way you watch may be different than the way I watch. And we're just trying to give viewers different choices to enhance their experience. [00:25:28] S6: This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed Sponsored Jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed Sponsored Jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. [00:25:58] S7: The people of the great nation of Texas have not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1988, but this year, that might change. James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian school teacher, self confessed, cringe progressive [00:26:11] S4: Yes. I was doing it maybe in in an annoying way.
00:26:11 · Nilay Patel, S7, Matt Strauss, S2, S8
[00:26:11] S4: Yes. I was doing it maybe in in an annoying way. [00:26:14] S7: Is leading in most polls. His opponent, republican attorney general Ken Paxton, is facing two headwinds, the price of gas and everything. Also, Paxton has done some very, very bad stuff. So Republicans have been trying some messaging, questioning whether Talarico is man enough for Texas. [00:26:30] S5: Low tea Talarico, Too weak for Texas. [00:26:34] S7: Tofu Talarico? They're questioning some other things too. [00:26:38] S2: I love you too, sir, in a totally platonic way. To be clear, I'm the vice president, not James Talarico. [00:26:47] S7: Memaw would be appalled, but what do Texans think? Are they buying it? On today explain from Vox, we pay a visit. [00:26:54] S5: Born to be a cowboy. [00:26:57] S7: Today explain drops every weekday. [00:27:00] S8: Hey, y'all. It's Esteb from America Actually at vox.com. We know that you have big questions about the world, and so do we. At Vox, we focus on covering the things that matter in your life and the things that make you curious, whether that's the big politics questions of the day, climate solutions that might actually work, or hopeful news in cancer or Alzheimer's research. We believe that journalism made for the everyday curious person can make a difference in making a better world. And if that sounds like something you wanna be a part of, Vox now has a brand new app, and it brings all of our journalism together in one place. Go to vox.com/app to download today.
00:27:00 · S8, Nilay Patel, Matt Strauss
[00:27:00] S8: Hey, y'all. It's Esteb from America Actually at vox.com. We know that you have big questions about the world, and so do we. At Vox, we focus on covering the things that matter in your life and the things that make you curious, whether that's the big politics questions of the day, climate solutions that might actually work, or hopeful news in cancer or Alzheimer's research. We believe that journalism made for the everyday curious person can make a difference in making a better world. And if that sounds like something you wanna be a part of, Vox now has a brand new app, and it brings all of our journalism together in one place. Go to vox.com/app to download today. [00:27:49] S4: One one thing I always think about in terms of distribution is every distribution channel, the monetization is more or less lucrative. So I can make a million Instagram reels today, and they will make me $0, but more people will see my face and then maybe I will sell them a Verge subscription or the Decoder book or whatever it is in the future. And that's the creator economy. [00:28:08] S5: Mhmm.
00:28:08 · Matt Strauss, Nilay Patel
[00:28:08] S5: Mhmm. [00:28:09] S4: Right? It's a it's a 10,000,000 little ad agencies and Instagram doesn't pay for the content, and they all have to monetize it some other way. Then there's, I don't know, Peacock or Netflix where I pay a subscription fee and the content is there, and there's that monetization model. Then there's, I don't the movies. You can go and pay to watch one movie one time, and that's gonna be very lucrative for Christopher Nolan, maybe nobody else, but it's very lucrative for Christopher Nolan. Which one is most valuable for you? You're describing everything, but it has to be that some make more money than others and some attract more new audience than others and you're trying to bring people from the biggest audience to the most revenue. [00:28:45] S5: Yeah and so this is really I want to give a lot of credit to our ad sales team. Mark Marshall who oversees ad sales because several years ago we recognized that if you really want to have this kind of a strategy and vision, like I said about content first, platform second, you need to become almost agnostic around where the consumption is happening. And so we made the decision that we actually sell as one portfolio. And so when you're buying advertising, we are combining the audiences across broadcast, cable, streaming, digital. And that's how we sell it and go to market. And that's actually been the way that we've been doing this now.
00:28:45 · Matt Strauss, Nilay Patel
[00:28:45] S5: Yeah and so this is really I want to give a lot of credit to our ad sales team. Mark Marshall who oversees ad sales because several years ago we recognized that if you really want to have this kind of a strategy and vision, like I said about content first, platform second, you need to become almost agnostic around where the consumption is happening. And so we made the decision that we actually sell as one portfolio. And so when you're buying advertising, we are combining the audiences across broadcast, cable, streaming, digital. And that's how we sell it and go to market. And that's actually been the way that we've been doing this now. [00:29:29] S4: Is advertising the number one line of revenue here? Because on cable, when you were part of Comcast, I'm sure the rates were not as high as you we should get now that you're split. But Comcast just paid you carriage fees.