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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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The experience economy is booming. That's good news for building connections with other people. But like everything else in the K-shaped economy, access is unevenly distributed. World Cup Experience, as read by George Hahn. I've seen more men embraced during the past two weeks than in the past two years. The beautiful game, football, generates a beautiful byproduct, togetherness.
The World Cup isn't an anomaly. The biggest trend of 2026 isn't AI chatbots, it's IRL experiences. In a 1998 Harvard Business Review article, Joseph Pine and James Gilmore coined the term experience economy. Their thesis? Economies progress from extracting commodities to manufacturing goods to delivering services and, ultimately, to staging experiences.
With each evolution, value becomes more personalized, immersive, and emotionally resonant. As they wrote, commodities are fungible, goods tangible, services intangible, and experiences memorable. Since 1960, U.S. consumers have increased their share of discretionary spending devoted to experiences by 60%, while the share devoted to goods has fallen by 35%.
Writing the same year Google was founded, Pine and Gilmore couldn't have anticipated a society atomized by smartphones and social media. Digital technologies, supercharged by pandemic-era social distancing measures, rendered in-person experiences scarce, i.e., more valuable. In 2021, as the world began to lift COVID restrictions, consumers embraced revenge travel.
The following year, a spokesperson for the American Society of Travel Advisors told CNN, It's another way of saying life is short. I want to experience the world and seek experiences that make me feel alive. The YOLO attitude persists, especially among young people.
A 2026 American Express report found that 74% of millennials and Zoomers consider travel non-negotiable, while two-thirds said they would take a job with fewer benefits if it gave them more flexibility to travel.
That says a lot about the value young people place on experiences, but it also suggests that young people are spending money on what they can, like experiences, as opposed to saving for purchases that are increasingly out of reach, like homes. It took significantly longer for the pendulum to swing in the other direction with respect to digital technology.
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Chapter 2: What is the experience economy and why is it booming?
Only in recent years have schools begun restricting smartphone use. In 2025, Australia became the first country to ban social media for anyone under 16. This year, another 13 countries are taking similar steps. The side effects of the digital revolution act as an accelerant to the trend Pine and Gilmore first identified in the 1990s.
According to a 2026 MasterCard survey of 27,000 European consumers, 60% prioritize offline experiences to balance out time spent online. According to a 2026 McKinsey report, consumers are prioritizing experiences that make them feel connected, relaxed, or excited, and those feelings often translate to a desire to splurge. but in a K-shaped economy, splurging is relative.
The same McKinsey report found that the prolonged cost-of-living squeeze has led more than three-quarters of consumers to engage in trade-down behavior. This has significant consequences for the loneliness epidemic, as live experiences tap into the hard wiring that drives us to seek out and sustain relationships. Digital experiences are low cost, low friction.
By comparison, IRL experiences are high friction, but to the extent that they're also high cost, the antidote for loneliness is sequestered to those who can afford it. In January, after investing in a live events company that produces themed music shows, Mark Cuban said, It's time we all got off our asses, left the house and had fun.
In an AI world, what you do is far more important than what you prompt. Hard agreement. Also, the amount of time you spend at home is inversely correlated to your success, professionally and romantically. As it happens, out-of-home entertainment is booming. Real-world experiences are the hottest premium on Wall Street right now, Axios media correspondent Sarah Fisher recently told me.
Streaming is plateauing. That's why we're seeing bundling and price hikes. Where's the growth? It's in live experiences. Case in point. It's turning out to be a strong summer at the movies, with this year's domestic box office on pace to earn $10 billion, the highest total since the pandemic and only 10% off the pre-pandemic peak.
Inflation is one factor, but the bigger driver is increased attendance. The average ticket price rose 3% year over year, while total ticket sales rose 7% year over year. It helps that Hollywood has produced a strong slate, including two acclaimed low-budget horror films, Back Rooms and Obsession, directed by YouTubers.
According to a Fandango report, young people view moviegoing as an affordable social experience. In 2025, Zoomers and millennials saw an average of seven movies in theaters, more than any other generational cohort.
For young people, the social experience really outweighs the movie itself, an AMZ executive told CNBC, adding that Zoomers are becoming the most important audience segment for exhibitors. It's a similar story for the live concert business, albeit with a monopolistic twist. Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary reported an 11% year-over-year increase in ticket sales.
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